At this time of year, we all eagerly wait for the retailers to report sales figures for the Christmas period.

Of course, they will all choose different weeks so they can present their figures in the best possible light nothing wrong with that, but it does leave us to sort out the winners from the losers. In theory, the like-for-like sales performances for most food retailers should be better than last year due to the snow of 2010 contrasting with the much milder weather of 2011.

There was the pre-VAT hike sales surge of 2010, but with 25 December falling on a Sunday, shoppers in 2011 had a full pre-Christmas shopping week. When Christmas falls midweek, in effect it creates an extra ‘weekend’, which customers have to cater for. As you can see, I am well versed in the ‘retailers’ handbook’ of cunning reasons for disappointing like-for-like sales growth. Where would we be without it?

Though I have been in retailing since 1969, I am no retail expert (otherwise I would be on TV), so I have to rely on the various retail reports in the media and on the retail gurus that pop up on the sofas of breakfast television to find out what is going on in our industry.

Here are a few of the things I have learnt these past few weeks that might have a bearing on what is facing the retail industry in 2012:

A Confederation of British Industry snapshot of the retail sector has revealed that cash returns were particularly poor for this time of year, even though volumes grew in December for the first time in seven months.

The report went on to state - and I quote - “early discounting helped retailers add a little extra sparkle to their sales in December, although the reprieve appears to be only temporary as they don’t expect sales to continue to grow”.

So 2012 is expected to be worse than last year, due to a full year of austerity, mounting job losses and diminishing consumer confidence.

Now in my experience, consumer confidence is affected not just by basic issues such as job security or house values, but by the continual diet of financial bad news through all forms of media. This stops the many people who enjoy low interest rates and who do have disposable income from spending.

So for retailers, suppliers and manufacturers, it will be another year of ignoring the finance director, listening to the operators and investing in volume growth.

Also, here’s a new year’s resolution for retail executives - visit your stores more often, see things though your shoppers’ eyes, and sometimes the answers will be staring you in the face.