What is Manchester Retail Intelligence (MaRI)?

MaRI provides retail leaders with a confidential, professional forum, for the frank and open exchange of views and experience.

Access to MaRI is by invitation only and membership brings together a group of leading but non-competing organisations with an interest in retail.

Members will have access to knowledge and insight of world-leading researchers from AMBS as well as their international network of academic and non-academic collaborators, and be able to use state-of-the-art research facilities. 

This initiative, directed by Alliance Manchester Business School, creates a unique blend of leading edge academic thinking with practical experience.

Our purpose

MRI’s purpose is to turn knowledge to insight and insight to impact, transcend the parochial and answer the big questions retailers are faced with. Example questions include:

• Understanding the impact of digitalisation and technology, finding new ways to engage with customers and partners, be sustainable, and using innovative techniques and methods to gain business insights;
• Identifying and sharing best practices from different sectors of the retail industry in a non-competitive environment;
• Enabling members to become leaders in leveraging opportunities in the merging worlds of online and offline in a sustainable manner.

Members are invited to exclusive Masterclasses, typically commencing in September each year with subsequent sessions throughout the year.

Masterclass themes may include: inspiration in retailing, digital transformation or the use of AI and AR, plus a series of members’ choice sessions, with themes proposed by members themselves.  

Member benefits

• Exclusive masterclasses: Exclusive access for two delegates, combining their experience with latest research to create rich and original insights for immediate impact. Each workshop will tackle a specific issue.
• Online resources: Exclusive access to a website dedicated to the members to enable discussions on the outputs from all sessions and to help implementation of new research insights.
• Professional networking: Opportunity to learn from successes and failures from various perspectives and different fields of retailing to improve business performance. 
• Latest research: Preferential access to original research that academic members have created or MRI has commissioned. Plus as opportunity to directly engage in custom research projects, directly relevant to member organisations.
• Professional development: Preferential access to standardised as well as customised educational products and the opportunity to shape educational content to help with current business challenges. 
• Consultancy: Complementary one-day consultancy visit as well as preferential arrangements for individual consultancy to tackle concrete business challenges.
• Talent attraction & recruitment: Preferential access to a pre-selected pool of future leaders and the opportunity to directly engage with student talent from early on.
• Knowledge & learning resources: Free corporate membership of the Eddie Davies (Alliance Manchester Business School) Library (considered one of the best business libraries in Europe) and access to world-class facilities, such as the Data Visualisation Observatory and Behavioural Research Laboratory

Members’ commitments

• Annual membership fee: £4,000
• Intellectual curiosity and openness: Members should come with a considerable degree of openness and willingness to share information and best practice.
• Commitment to active membership: Organisations must send two delegates to Masterclasses.
• Professional confidentiality: Maintain a shared, confidential space and the application of Chatham House rules.