What are the key retail risks?

The current economic slowdown, damage to reputation and disruption or supply chain failure are the top three risks identified by Aon Analytics in its recently released 2009 US Retail Industry Report. The report was generated to help Aon's retail industry clients remain abreast of emerging issues and learn how peers and competitors are managing risk, overcoming challenges and capturing opportunities.

The report notes that preparedness for risk in the retail industry was demonstrated by having in place a plan to address risks; or having undertaken a formal review of that risk. Retail respondents reported that the lowest state of preparedness mirrored the top three risks - economic slowdown at 33 percent, damage to reputation at 52 percent and distribution or supply chain failure at 53 percent.

According to the report, more than 45 percent of the retail respondents indicated that they rely on senior management intuition and experience as the primary method of identifying and assessing their major risks. Twenty-four percent said they rely on business unit risk registers or key risk indicator worksheets for risk identification and business unit quantitative analysis for risk assessment.

The 2009 U.S. Retail Industry Report can be downloaded after registration at www.aon.com/retailindustryreport

•Date: 8th Oct 2009• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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