Helen Dickinson

"Many retail business are just watching with horror almost at the mess that has been created."

"I think many retail business are just watching with horror almost at the mess that has been created and how it’s so late, and from a business point of view you would never, never leave everything to the last minute."

"That ability to deliver pretty low inflation or even deflation in non-food over the last five years or so has been dependent on frictionless movement of goods across borders, and to the extent that goods are imported from the EU, or from countries that the EU has a trade deal with, as there are no tariffs on those goods coming in."

"If we’re on WTO tariffs, and if we have any friction at the borders, that will put costs up for retailers and hence prices up for consumers."

"I was gobsmacked by it at the time because back then you were routinely talking hundreds of thousands of pounds for some of these larger “gold standard” government projects."

"I’d never really been all that aware of the scale of it all when seeing statistics quoted in the newspaper until I started working in the industry."

"Being innovative is crucial in our line of work, and yes it brings a lot of value to try something."

"I believe you don't have to do something new for the sake of doing something new, just consider things that have worked well so far."

"I honestly don't think a day goes by, certainly a week, where I don’t learn something from each other."

"We're always learning from each other, which I think that is really valuable."

"They were opening shops like ­billy-o as loads of people were buying things on credit. At that time you did not have to be a great retailer to enjoy a measure of success. But now it is the customer in charge and digitalisation is largely driving it."

"The digital revolution has had a major impact on the way consumers shop. It’s a game-changer."

"Technology is giving rise to a pace of change that we have not ever seen before. For the customer it’s great."

"Customers don’t care what shopping channel they use."

"It is a great opportunity for retailers as it provides small retail businesses with a shop window to the world, driving exports of British products rather than just being a physical place in the community."