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Leading through disruption: Achieving retail resilience, now and in the future

Marsh McLennan’s 2025 UK Retail Leaders Report captures a sector caught between ambition and uncertainty—determined to grow, yet unclear whether today’s investments will deliver tomorrow’s results.

Retailers are under pressure like never before. Marsh McLennan’s 2025 UK Retail Leaders Report captures a sector caught between ambition and uncertainty—determined to grow, yet unclear whether today’s investments will deliver tomorrow’s results.

At the heart of our findings lies the ‘overinvestment paradox’. Two-thirds of retail leaders believe their organisations are overspending on major challenges—AI, workforce planning and wellbeing, sustainability and more—despite often claiming to manage these areas effectively. The problem isn’t the volume of spending, but the lack of clarity around impact and ROI. In many cases, investment has become a stand-in for progress.

The workforce remains a critical pressure point. With labour shortages rising, the increases in employers’ National Insurance Contributions and legislation like the UK’s upcoming Employment Rights Act, retailers face growing costs and higher expectations. Yet 59% believe they are overinvesting in managing workforce shortages and 39% say they struggle to measure the ROI of HR initiatives. Nearly one in four retailers even expect to shrink their workforce in the year ahead. By taking a strategic and long-term view of workforce needs, retailers can identify and tackle skills gaps in a way that benefits both their own commercial growth and their wider communities.

Compounding these challenges is a perception gap within leadership. While 79% of CEOs believe their companies are handling labour issues effectively, just 55% of HR Directors agree. The same disconnect is seen in sustainability and technology, where frontline leaders express concern over inflated spending and unclear strategies.

Nowhere is this clearer than digital transformation. Although retailers have big ambitions for automation in the next few years, 93% of CISOs say AI and automation investments are excessive. This is understandable: many initiatives are led by commercial teams without IT alignment, resulting in fragmented, siloed systems that underdeliver and could leave businesses vulnerable to cyberattack.

Supply chain resilience is also being tested. Over a quarter (26%) of COOs admit they’re underinvesting in understanding the risks posed by tier 2 and 3 suppliers. Despite claims of strong supply chain management, overinvestment in compliance and ethical sourcing points to a lack of integrated, insight-driven approaches.

Finally, sustainability is yet to be adequately prioritised. While net-zero goals are widely endorsed, 74% of sustainability leaders don’t believe their organisations are on track to achieve them, indicating that environmental initiatives are still seen as a future ambition, not a current business priority.

But there is a bright side. In a time of continuous disruption, this report explains how retail leaders can thrive by pausing, aligning and acting with clarity. Those who adopt agile planning models, more collaborative management practices, strong supplier partnerships and holistic people strategies—underpinned by robust long-term strategies which flex to meet short-term growth objectives—will see their businesses prosper up to 2030 and beyond.

After all, resilience isn’t reactive. It’s intentional.

Leading through disruption: Achieving retail resilience, now and in the future

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Leading through disruption: Achieving retail resilience, now and in the future

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