It has become a cliché to say that the covid-19 pandemic has exposed underlying weaknesses in our economic model and accelerated existing changes in the way we live, but this is undoubtedly the case for retail. Bricks and mortar shops were already scrambling to redefine themselves in the face of e-commerce, striving to provide a physical experience that websites cannot replace. But in 2020, as non-essential shops were shuttered and most people confined to their homes, trade online rocketed even further.

While the likes of Amazon experienced record sales, established department store names such as Debenhams, the Arcadia Group, which owns a host of fashion brands such as Top Shop, and Intu, owner of Lakeside shopping centre in Essex and the Trafford Centre in Manchester, collapsed.

…