How does UK retail productivity measure up?

Productivity is an important indicator of competitiveness and economic health.Recent debate about the competitiveness of the UK economy has focused attentionon the gap between UK productivity and the productivity of other players in the globaleconomy, such as the US, France and Germany.A more detailed look at the productivity figures, on a sector by sector basis, revealsthat the productivity gap varies across industries. It is most obvious in the UK retailsector, which is significantly less productive than the retail sector in the US, Franceand Germany.This briefing focuses on retail sector productivity, and supermarkets in particular.It examines possible causes for the retail productivity gap and addresses thepossibility that measurement issues may be responsible for the apparent differencein productivity rather than any real difference in productivity. The impact of price andInformation and Communications Technology (ICT) on measuring retailing productivityis considered.[...]