EDITORIAL How shoppers bought this Christmas

In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re focusing in our peak 2019 round-up piece on what the latest data tells us about how shoppers bought this Christmas. It seems that footfall continued to fall, while discounts rose online – and record returns are expected to be arriving just around now. But while discounts are undoubtedly encouraging shoppers to buy, they make it harder for retailers to trade profitably. Today we have guest analysis from Michael Green of Salesforce who considers how retailers can meet customers’ higher expectations while moving beyond discounts.

It’s a strategy that can work well. The first Christmas trading update – from Next – shows the retailer performing better than expected over the Christmas quarter after a year in which it has focused on full-price sales while limiting discounting to the Black Friday and end-of-season sales. The result has been growth in online sales and a relatively slow decline in in-store retail sales. That reflects the wider perception of falling in-store footfall as shoppers become more willing to shop online. Today we also report as Schuh focuses on how shoppers pay in order to boost sales. 

Today we’re also looking to how retail is expected to develop in 2020 in the latest in our series of predictions for the year ahead. Today the focus is on cross-channel shopping. 

Today’s guest comment comes from Callum Saunders of Zeal Creative, who asks how retailers can engage with the emerging shopper superpower that is Generation Z, especially in an era where traditional notions of ‘loyalty’ are seemingly being eroded.

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