Was This Christmas A Turkey For Retailers?
As Santa relaxed somewhere near Lapland, and the last of the Christmas paper was being recycled, UK retailers spent a few days picking over the Christmas figures.
So, was this last Christmas a turkey or were there some positive indicators for the retail industry?
The sad pre-Christmas demise of Woolworths rattled confidence, as did the news that, amongst others, Zaavi, Whittards, Adams and Officers Club were to go into administration. Major retailers, were also feeling the effects of shoppers’ budgets being tightened. Next, suffered a near 10% drop in pre-Christmas sales, and Marks and Spencer continued their three month long slump. This lead Sir Stuart Rose to call on the Government to bolster consumer confidence and claim that their recession policies have confused shoppers, causing an impact on their spending habits.
It was not all bad news, however. According to the Guardian newspaper there were some businesses making merry over the festive season. Value-for-money and budget stores such as Poundland, Peacocks, Primark and New Look all reported good sales; as did HMV and Liberty. Major retailer John Lewis experienced a last minute boost the week prior to Christmas, even claiming that it was their “best Christmas ever”, while Asda reported that it was experiencing the highest sales ever.
Boxing day sales were also seen as strong – certainly in terms of footfall. With some business preempting the sales with pre-Christmas markdowns, it was speculated that this would affect the turnout of bargain hunters; however this was not the case. Large centres such as Lakeside, Brent Cross and the Trafford Centre were all ready for big business, and queues of eager shoppers were seen from well before business opened to snap up the massive reductions.
With up to 75% markdowns on many items it may have been a consumers’ paradise – but was there a greater spend? As one shopper put it: “I don’t think I spent any more than usual, but I got a lot more for my money…and I was able to get things that I couldn’t normally afford to buy.”
