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 -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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9 NovemberHigh Street
October footfall ‘wobble’ sparks fresh concern for UK high street
October saw a 7.4% drop in UK store visits, the biggest year-on-year drop since July, while average weekly footfall was down 2.9% compared with September. According to Ipsos Retail Performance’s latest Retail Traffic Index (RTI) the areas with the highest decline in store visits were south west England and Wales,…
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8 NovemberClothing & Shoes
‘Unparalleled line up of talent’ brought in for JD Christmas ad
Sportswear retailer JD Sports has brought together an “unparalleled line-up of global talent” as part of its 2018 Christmas campaign. A 40s-style Christmas commercial will make its debut on Friday 9 November, during Emmerdale, and will be rolled out across Channel 4, E4, ITV, Sky Sports and BT Sports. The…
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6 NovemberDepartment Stores
Debenhams ratings downgraded by Moody’s
Debenhams has had its ratings downgraded for a second time in two months by ratings agency Moody’s. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the long-term corporate family rating (CFR) of the UK’s largest department store group Debenhams to Caa1 from B2. It has also downgraded Debenhams probability of default rating (PDR) to…
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Oct- 2018 -31 OctoberHigh Street
‘Brexit anxieties’ lead to decrease in consumer confidence in October
Growth from Knowledge’s (GfK) long-running consumer confidence index decreased by one point to -10 in October 2018, amid consumer anxieties over Brexit. The market research institute said the lack of confidence from shoppers will “concern retailers” in the run-up to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the key Christmas trading period,…
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31 OctoberEntertainment
Argos and John Lewis Christmas toy lists create surge in interest
A new study has found interest in this year’s “must-have” Christmas toys surged by almost eight times, following the publication of the Argos and John Lewis top Christmas toys lists. The research by digital marketing agency, Everest Media, analysed the volume of Google searches that each toy on the list…
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