By 1999 the organic business was worth over £600 million, more than doubling in two years. ibid.
By 2001 obesity had doubled in women and trebled in men, and it was rising. ibid.
The food industry – they have one priority and that is making money. ibid.
The food industry: why are governments so scared? ibid.
We live in a world where spending never stops. But why do we buy what we buy? And how is our desire to spend manipulated? Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Spend, BBC 2014
Yesterday’s desired item is tomorrow’s piece of trash. ibid.
Hard proof of planned obsolescence. ibid.
Logical reprogramming of the consumer – his name was Alfred P Sloan, the head of General Motors ... ‘The organised creation of dissatisfaction’. ibid.
The designer revolution of the ’80s and ’90s cloaked a tidal wave of cheap goods on to the high street we bought and discarded without shame. ibid.
Apple have perfected the idea of obsolescence. ibid.
They’ve exploited our anxieties to sell everything from cars to soap to the secret of eternal youth. Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Spend II
This notion of soothing our fears has almost endless potential to get us to spend. ibid.
We’re obsessed with Statins and Cholesterol. ibid.
A new word has entered the lexicon – antibacterial. ibid.
If fear could be invoked to sell us flavoured water, anything seemed possible. ibid.
Fear is at the very heart of why we buy. ibid.
In less than fifty years children have become prized consumers, with British and American kids worth seven hundred billion pounds a year. Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Spend III
Children were targeted increasingly aggressively. ibid.
An entire shopping culture had been built around credit. ibid.
Now, we’re a nation of shoppers. ibid.
Tonight: the remarkable rise of discount supermarkets. And could the supermarket switch save you a packet? Tonight: The Rise of Discount Supermarkets, ITV 2014
Tonight: exclusive footage revealing the secret world of online shopping. The home deliveries driving us to distraction. How some rogue delivery drivers are giving the good ones a bad name. And does this ten-billion-pound delivery industry need a shake up? Tonight: Secrets of Your Online Shop, ITV 2018
Parcels neither signed, sealed or delivered. ibid.
Online shopping and delivery disputes are on the increase. ibid.
Tonight: the worst year on record for high streets. The shops fighting to survive at Christmas. Is a High Street more than just a place of business? And what can we do to save them? Tonight: High Streets: End of the Road? ITV 2020
The last decade has seen unprecedented turmoil for our retailers … with more of us doing our shopping online than ever before. ibid.
We are a nation of shopkeepers: but for how much longer? ibid.
Tonight: inside the supermarkets keeping Britain fed in the pandemic. A supply chain in trouble: milk down the drain, and the risk of fresh food rotting in the ground. Tonight: Supermarkets & Supply Chains, ITV 2020
A cold shoulder for truckers keeping the nation fed. ibid.
Secrets of your online Christmas. The army of drivers working hard to deliver your festive season. The surprising goods that are selling well online. And what does it mean for our local shops? Tonight: Secrets of Your Online Christmas, ITV 2020
Online sales are up by almost 60% in the UK … In the UK online sales have increased over 400% in the past decade. The biggest retailer here is Amazon. ibid.
Buyers beware: Christmas cons revealed. The real cost of shopping online if you don’t play it safe. The imitation Christmas presents with dangerous consequences. And are we fighting a losing battle against the scammers? … The Christmas season is particularly lucrative for fraudsters. Tonight: Buyer Beware, ITV 2020
Hot tubs: it seemed the perfect early Christmas present for Jo and her family … They went to pick up their online purchase at the address they were given … ibid.
Requests to pay by bank transfer can be a sign of a scam. ibid.
A spokesperson for Paypal said, ‘Sellers need to be very wary if buyers ask them to change delivery address.’ ibid.
Will there be a post-pandemic bounce? Or is the high street in terminal decline? What are the prospects for jobless shop-workers? And will the grey pound save our town centres? … Are the beating hearts of our towns and cities equipped to survive? Tonight: Can Your Town Centre Survive? ITV 2021
It’s too late for some shops. Nationwide, more than 15,000 have closed in the last year alone. ibid.
Is shoplifting out of control? Retailers say they feel abandoned. Shopkeepers taking matters into their own hands. And is the cost of living crisis forcing some to steal? Tonight: Shops and Robbers: High Street Wars? ITV 2022
There’s a disparity between what retailers say is happening in their stores and what the official stores report. ibid.
Shoplifting: the battle on the hight street. The extreme lengths brazen thieves are going to. What’s the impact on shops and those who work there? And is enough being done to stop it? Tonight: Shoplifting: The Battle on the High Street, ITV 2023
We’re in the midst of what’s being described as a shoplifting epidemic. ibid.
Behind the scenes of our Christmas deliveries. How is the post coping? The rise of so-called porch pirates. And the people delivering Christmas to those who otherwise would go without. Tonight: Post & Parcels: Getting Christmas Delivered? ITV 2023
In the UK we spend an estimated £20 billion on Christmas gifts last year. And around a third of our shopping was done online. ibid.
Supermarket giants have been left reeling ... The huge changes sweeping through the supermarket industry ... [of] the German discounters’ success. Cherry Healey, Britain’s Supermarket Revolution, BBC 2015
Customers: Are we being served? What about the companies we’re dealing with? So how do you complain successfully? And are we at the end of the line with being put on hold? Tonight: Are We Being Served? ITV 2023
Customer complaints are said to have risen to their highest level for ten years with poor customer service estimated to cost UK businesses billions of pounds every month. ibid.
In Britain today there is a battle taking place. A shoplifter strikes every twelve seconds. They pocket an incredible £6,000,000 of goods every day ... Who is winning this game of cat and mouse? Shops and Robbers: Britain’s War on Shoplifters Channel 5 2014
So is shoplifting really a national disease? ibid.
‘I shoplift because I can’t afford it, plus I like to get things for free. I think free stuff is the best. You enjoy it more innit.’ ibid. Carla, West London
They’ve got another trick up their sleeves: distraction. ibid.
In North London this gang descend on mass. Wasting no time helping themselves to whatever they like. Stunned, the staff respond bravely. But ultimately the staff were helpless and the gang fought back. ibid.
What peaches and penumbras! Whole
families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands!
Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes! –
and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down
by the watermelons? Allen Ginsberg, A Supermarket in California, 1956
Astrologers or three wise men
Who may shortly be setting out
For a small house up the Shankill
Or the Falls, should pause on their way
To buy gifts at Jim Gibson’s shop,
Dates and chestnuts and tambourines. Michael Longley, The Greengrocer, 1979
Today we take it for granted that the majority of our shop assistants are women. But a hundred and fifty years ago being served by a stopgirl was a strange new phenomenon. Dr Pamela Cox, Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter I, BBC 2014
Shopping had arrived on a grand scale ... the department store. ibid.
Living-in had its origins in the apprenticeship tradition. ibid.
On 16th November 1898 Harrods department store in London was packed ... Britain’s first moving staircase. Dr Pamela Cox, Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter II
This is the story of how the lives of our shopworkers were revolutionised in the early 20th century. ibid.
Long hours, low pay, and the strict Victorian system of compulsory living-in meant the proprietors owned most of the shopgirls’ moments. ibid.
1912: Women’s Cooperative Guild ... ‘12,000 women actually got the living minimum wage.’ ibid.
Selfridges: In less than a year he constructed England’s largest, most luxurious store. ibid.
Chesterton attacked big shops ... His idea of hell. ibid.
Biba: the bombers were called the Angry Brigade. Dr Pamela Cox, Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter III
This is the story of how shopgirls grew in status in the second half of the twentieth century. ibid.
Brent Cross 1976: our first stand-alone out-of-town shopping mall. ibid.
We spend much more than we used to. ibid.