Report

Retail Leaders Report 2026

Retail has weathered wave after wave of disruption in recent years, from inflation and geopolitical volatility to costly cyberattacks. This year’s pulse report helps retail leaders understand today’s landscape and build strategies for sustainable growth.

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Has survival come at the expense of strategy in retail?

Retail has proven resilient through inflation, cyber threats and ongoing disruption, but this has also encouraged a more short-term mindset that is crowding out longer-term strategy.

Our 2026 report highlights that many retailers are responding with tactical fixes, cost-cutting and heavy spending in the wrong places, while under-prioritizing future risks such as supply chain resilience, workforce wellbeing, and cyber recovery. It also highlights a growing disconnect between leadership perceptions and shopfloor realities, especially on employee safety and retail crime. Overall, the message is that surviving today’s pressures is not enough - retailers need to rebuild strategic discipline and invest in sustainable resilience for the long term.

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Key themes

Retailers no longer see disruption as occasional - it is now part of normal business life.

71% say operational, financial, and shifting consumer pressures are now a constant feature of doing business
93% of retail leaders have faced significant disruption in the last year

Many retailers are prioritising immediate cost and risk issues over long-term resilience and growth.

40% have redirected long-term investments toward short-term costs or risk priorities
47% are extending the use of existing core systems and infrastructure
30% have reduced operational flexibility to protect margins

Cost and efficiency pressures are forcing leaders to make trade-offs that raise operational risk.

53% say cost and efficiency pressures are forcing them to accept higher risk exposure
This is nearly identical for growth and no-growth businesses, showing it is widespread rather than sector-specific

Retailers are spending heavily, but not always in ways that deliver clear returns.

65% say they are overinvesting and seeing poor ROI in managing key challenges
66% said the same in 2025, showing the issue has not improved significantly

There is a clear gap between how leaders view risk and how frontline employees experience it.

85% of business leaders say employee physical safety is being managed well, versus 72% of people leaders
89% of retail leaders do not see employee wellbeing and safety as a top challenge
Yet 30% say retail crime and in-store safety incidents were a top three disruptor last year

Despite higher awareness and spending, cyber exposure is still widespread, and resilience is not keeping pace.

95% report significant areas of cyber exposure in their organisation
24% say cyber-attacks were a top three disruptor last year
64% of those who experienced a major cyber disruption still say they are overinvesting in cyber resilience

Longer-horizon supply chain and sustainability issues are slipping down the agenda.

Concerns such as the technology skills gap, ethical and sustainable purchasing, supplier ethics, and net zero have all fallen in priority
For example, compliance with international trade and labour laws dropped from 15% to 7% as a challenge cited by leaders

Fireside chat with Kelvyn Sampson and Helen Dickinson

Watch Kelvyn Sampson, Retail, Leisure & Hospitality Industries Leader at Marsh Risk UK, and Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, discuss our latest report as they explore how retail has shown resilience in the face of inflation, cyber threats, and ongoing disruption, while also noting that this has often driven a more short-term mindset that can crowd out longer-term strategy.

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Retail Leaders Report 2026