Christmas
This coverage explores the critical Christmas trading period in the UK retail sector, focusing on sales performance, promotional strategies, consumer trends, supply chain planning, and operational challenges. Reporting highlights how retailers prepare for and execute peak season campaigns to maximise revenue and manage demand. Designed for executives and managers, it provides insights into effective planning and competitive positioning during the festive season.
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Nov- 2018 -21 NovemberAdvice
Ramping PCI DSS efforts for the festive shopping period
With consumers the world over making the all-important buying decisions in anticipation of the holidays, retailers should be preparing to keep customers’ data safe. Despite the fact that PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) has been in effect for over a decade, and most merchants achieve compliance, some…
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21 NovemberHigh Street
UK shoppers may spend £234 on average this Black Friday, says PwC
UK consumers are preparing to spend an average of £234 at the tills and online during this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping periods, PwC’s latest survey reveals. The £234 average projected spend for 2018 is exactly the same as 2017, suggesting demand has flattened out. Half of UK…
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20 NovemberHigh Street
UK sales predicted to grow 4% in December
New research predicts that December’s retail sales will reach £47.7bn, growing 4% when compared with last year when sales hit £45.8bn. According to global market research firm Mintel, sales through non-food retailers are expected to reach £23.5bn (including £4bn from online sales generated by physical stores), while food retailers could…
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20 NovemberClothing & Shoes
‘Challenging market’ sees Bonmarché profits fall
Bonmarché has seen its profits fall by 21% for the first half of the year, attributed to “weaker consumer sentiment” in a “challenging market”. The fashion retailer reported for the period ending 29 September underlying profit before tax was £3.3m, almost £1m lower when compared with the same period the previous…
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20 NovemberDepartment Stores
Twitter recruits man named John Lewis for #NotARetailStore advert
Twitter has launched a Christmas advert featuring a man named John Lewis who is often mistaken for the retailer. Lewis receives over 50,000 tweets per year from customers hoping to reach John Lewis and Partners customer service team which uses the Twitter handle @jlandpcustserv as opposed to Lewis who uses…
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19 NovemberEconomy
Black Friday footfall expected to drop as shoppers go online
Retail intelligence experts Springboard have forecast that Black Friday and the following weekend will do “very little to help the beleaguered high street”. Footfall is anticipated to drop by 3.7% year-on-year compared with last year and down 2.7% over the weekend as a whole. This follows a decline in footfall…
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16 NovemberHigh Street
Retail sales slow in October after summer of strong growth
The quantity of items bought in retail sales in October fell by 0.5% when compared with September 2018, according to the latest figures from the ONS. In the three months to October 2018 the quantity of items bought increased by 0.4% when compared with the previous three months, but there…
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15 NovemberAdvice
Don’t forget about returns during the Black Friday boom
With less than a week to go until Black Friday – arguably the most important day of the year for both the high street and eCommerce – we’re already seeing offers and tips for getting the best bargains starting to appear. The temptation to take advantage of the sales and…
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12 NovemberSupermarkets
Sainsbury’s enlists Greatest Showman director for Christmas ad
Sainsbury’s has unveiled its new Christmas advert, ‘The Big Night’, directed by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. The ad which is now available online and will premier on TV on Monday during Coronation Street on ITV, and is the first to be released by one of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets.…
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12 NovemberHigh Street
Forecasts predict £99bn retail sales increase during ‘golden quarter’
Total UK retail sales in Q4 are expected to rise by 2% to £98.8bn for the three months to the end of 2018, known as the ‘golden quarter’. According to retail data and insights firm GlobalData, 2018 has been a year of “retail failures, profit warnings and store closures so…
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