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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Oct- 2021 -26 OctoberOnline & Digital
Studio secures supply chain ahead of peak trading
Studio Retail Group has announced that sales were slightly ahead of the “exceptional” sales recorded last year, and 38% higher than two years ago, for the half-year ended 24 September 2021. Despite the positive trading update, the online retailer noted that it has been affected by ongoing issues with global…
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22 OctoberEconomy
Consumer confidence drops for third straight month
Consumer confidence has dropped for the third straight month in October, down four points to -17, according to the latest GfK Consumer Confidence Index. The long-running index found that all measures were down in comparison to September. It comes as the index measuring changes in personal finances over the last…
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22 OctoberEconomy
September retail sales fall 0.2%, ONS reveals
September retail sales volumes fell by 0.2% and by 2.6% when compared with the same period in 2020, according to the latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) results. Non-food stores reported a fall of 1.4% in sales volumes in September 2021, which was mainly due to a 9.3% decrease in…
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21 OctoberAdvice
Last chance saloon
Is the writing on the wall for eCommerce? Customers have relied on online retail for 18 months, with repeated lockdowns contributing to an extraordinary spike in growth – online now contributes 36% of retail revenue compared to just 16% pre-pandemic. Yet, while some of this new buying behaviour is likely…
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21 OctoberDepartment Stores
John Lewis opens 10 Christmas Emporiums
John Lewis has announced the opening of its festive Christmas Emporiums across 10 stores. The Emporiums will host in-store events and festive workshops, offer personalised gifting experiences alongside presents and decoration options. In another step for a more sustainable Christmas, the department store said it has removed all single-use plastic…
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21 OctoberHigh Street
Boots to hire 5,500 Christmas staff
Boots has announced it will hire 5,500 seasonal roles as the retailer prepares for the busy Christmas shopping period. The recruitment drive includes up to 4,000 Boots Christmas customer advisor roles available at stores across the UK, and over 1,000 roles available for Christmas warehouse operatives and picker packers at…
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20 OctoberSupermarkets
Asda announces Christmas recruitment drive
Asda has announced it is recruiting 15,000 temporary colleagues for the festive season, and has confirmed the dates its festive home delivery slots go live. The supermarket is recruiting seasonal colleagues to fulfil a variety of different roles including serving customers, replenishing shelves, picking, packing and delivering online orders. Around…
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19 OctoberAdvice
Certainty exceeds discounts in 2021 peak trading
Global supply chain disruption could not have come at a worse time for UK retailers desperate to maximise the potential of an ever growing online customer base during peak trading season. But with costs spiralling and many products unlikely to arrive in the country in time for Christmas, let alone…
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19 OctoberEconomy
UK footfall return remains steady
Footfall across UK retail destinations declined marginally by -0.7% last week from the week before, according to Springboard. UK footfall last week was +28.1% higher than in the same week in 2020, which was a strong improvement from +24.5% in the week before. The fact that footfall did not change…
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15 OctoberHigh Street
September online retail sales drop by 12.5% YOY, data warns
Online retail sales fell back 12.5% year-on-year in September, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers. The drop was driven by poor sales in the first week of the month which typically would have fared better through the…
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