September 18, 2018 Industry news
n a volatile climate for the UK retail industry, GS1 UK and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) are partnering to improve the measurement of price changes.
From House of Fraser to Poundworld, the British high street is struggling like never before.
The online revolution and falling disposable income rates have combined to leave the great and the good of the retail world with stagnating sales and tightening margins across the board.
Add into the mix that data is playing a much bigger role in the way that companies work and people shop, and the sector is groaning under an increasing information burden.
In an environment where accurate measurement could help to lighten the load on businesses, GS1 UK is supporting the ONS to develop new data sources to calculate a key economic bellwether, the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH).
Trusted data at the heart of CPIH
The CPIH is the rate at which the prices of a predetermined basket of consumer goods and services bought by households rise or fall. It is an important indicator which governments and businesses can use to make informed economic decisions.
Traditionally, this information has been collated through local field collections and manual data entry.
A new approach to CPIH calculation is possible if retailers provide their point of sale scanner data to the ONS.
When this data is married with GS1 UK’s GTIN product identifiers, price changes can be calculated for unique items, radically streamlining the nature of data collection.
Want to get involved?
The ONS is exploring how it can work with retailers for the benefit of both, to improve these key statistics. If you are interested in finding out more about this and want to get involved please contact Jacky Broomhead at GS1 UK.
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