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Declining Footfalls and Retail's Blue Collar Outlook for 2040
06/09/2026
Declining Footfalls and Retail's Blue Collar Outlook for 2040
Episode 50 of The Future of Retail podcast marks a milestone conversation on the forces reshaping retail demand, labour, footfall, and customer confidence toward 2040. In this episode, Retail Doctor Group Chair & Founder Brian Walker examines the blue collar outlook for retail with futurist Howard Saunders, looking at how AI, ageing populations, declining footfalls, and changing work patterns will affect retail strategy over the next decade and beyond. The discussion centres on a major economic shift: as AI makes knowledge more accessible, the value of some white-collar work may compress, while practical skills, trades, infrastructure work, and physical execution gain relative strength. Key Insights: Knowledge work is losing scarcity as AI expands access to information. The blue collar outlook changes how retailers should read future demand. Declining footfalls will place greater pressure on store network decisions. Demographics will reshape who buys, where they live, and how they spend. Trust, ingredient scrutiny, and customer scepticism will influence retail value. This shift changes more than employment forecasts. It changes who has spending power, where confidence sits, and how retailers need to think about demand. For retailers, this has direct implications for range, location strategy, service models, labour planning, and long-term investment. This episode sees Brian and Howard picking up a conversation started 4 years ago, giving retail leaders a sharper view of the customer economy taking shape now, and definitively shows why 2040 planning needs to begin now. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป - our website | - YouTube | Contact the expert team at Retail Doctor Group for a complimentary 15-minute consult and 3 key insights about your business today. โ +61 2 9460 2882 โ ๐ ๐ Join the conversation Have a comment on the content? We'd love your feedback! ๐ Invite a Friend Feel free to share, send via DM, or repost to your network for added commentary. ๐ Download our Latest Whitepaper Now ๐ Read the Blog ๐ Learn More About RDG ๐ Join RDG's Exclusive CEO Community ๐ Subscribe to RDG's Newsletter ๐ Download Brian Walker's Speaker Pack Now ๐ Listen to RDG's Podcasts https://retaildoctor.com.au/podcast-library/
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