The attractiveness of retailing as a career for graduates: an update

During the mid‐1980s a group of major retailing organizations came together to form the Consortium of British Retail Training Organizations (CORTCO) with the aim of addressing some collective concerns. One of these was that there did not appear to be enough, sufficiently qualified graduates applying for the available management posts within the retail industry. Research studies into undergraduates’ choice of careers had confirmed that: first, retail management was considered an unattractive career by many graduates; and, second, undergraduates’ knowledge of what a retail management career would involve was limited. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of retail management degrees and modules offered by UK universities and various types of promotional activities instigated by CORTCO. The demand for suitably qualified graduates to apply to the industry remains; the question is whether retail management is still a secondary choice of career for undergraduates. Using the results of two recent surveys of undergraduates and retailers, attempts to provide an update of the situation.