Christmas trading is going smoothly, with sales either the same as or better than last year for the vast majority of The Grocer Top 50 independent retailers.
According to our latest reader panel survey, many retailers took the precaution of ordering their Christmas stock early, with goods on shelf at the beginning of October or even September.
Few, if any, are encountering problems with stock deliveries. Several of our panel are members of Nisa-Today's and were hit by problems at the organisation's Scunthorpe warehouse last year. But this year, they say there have been few issues.
“If you look at specific Christmas lines, they are up on last year. That's because we started earlier and have a much bigger Christmas presence in store,” says one Top 50 chain.
However, one retailer says he has been hit by limited problems. “We are experiencing problems with large tins of confectionery. There's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing caused by supermarket promotions, which disrupted supplies and allocations to everyone else.” Another acknowledges the problem, but says he has not been affected personally.
Although more than a third of our panel's stores are opening on Christmas Day in response to fierce competition from local supermarkets, most are not. “We haven't historically. If you can't have one day off a year, things are really bad,” says one.
Despite this decision by many to close up shop, almost two thirds say their stores will perform better than last year across the whole festive period. More than a third say they expect spending in their shops to be the same as last year. None believe their Christmas sales will be lower than in 2005. That optimism is partly based on the strong levels of Christmas spending they are witnessing so far, they say.
However, one fears that sales on Christmas Eve could be affected by shoppers being drawn to nearby multiples. “We hope our Christmas sales will be higher this year. But Christmas Eve, when we do a lot of our Christmas sales, falls on a Sunday and many of the multiples will be open. We fear people will recognise that and make alternative arrangements. That's why we're trying to sell as much as we can before Christmas Eve.”
The questions we asked:
1) Are you stocking Christmas products?
Yes: 100%
No: 0%
2) Are you having problems with Christmas stock deliveries?
Yes: 7%
No: 93%
3) Are your stores open on Christmas Day?
Yes: 36%
No: 64%
4) Is Christmas spending so far below last year?
Yes: 7%
No: 93%
According to our latest reader panel survey, many retailers took the precaution of ordering their Christmas stock early, with goods on shelf at the beginning of October or even September.
Few, if any, are encountering problems with stock deliveries. Several of our panel are members of Nisa-Today's and were hit by problems at the organisation's Scunthorpe warehouse last year. But this year, they say there have been few issues.
“If you look at specific Christmas lines, they are up on last year. That's because we started earlier and have a much bigger Christmas presence in store,” says one Top 50 chain.
However, one retailer says he has been hit by limited problems. “We are experiencing problems with large tins of confectionery. There's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing caused by supermarket promotions, which disrupted supplies and allocations to everyone else.” Another acknowledges the problem, but says he has not been affected personally.
Although more than a third of our panel's stores are opening on Christmas Day in response to fierce competition from local supermarkets, most are not. “We haven't historically. If you can't have one day off a year, things are really bad,” says one.
Despite this decision by many to close up shop, almost two thirds say their stores will perform better than last year across the whole festive period. More than a third say they expect spending in their shops to be the same as last year. None believe their Christmas sales will be lower than in 2005. That optimism is partly based on the strong levels of Christmas spending they are witnessing so far, they say.
However, one fears that sales on Christmas Eve could be affected by shoppers being drawn to nearby multiples. “We hope our Christmas sales will be higher this year. But Christmas Eve, when we do a lot of our Christmas sales, falls on a Sunday and many of the multiples will be open. We fear people will recognise that and make alternative arrangements. That's why we're trying to sell as much as we can before Christmas Eve.”
The questions we asked:
1) Are you stocking Christmas products?
Yes: 100%
No: 0%
2) Are you having problems with Christmas stock deliveries?
Yes: 7%
No: 93%
3) Are your stores open on Christmas Day?
Yes: 36%
No: 64%
4) Is Christmas spending so far below last year?
Yes: 7%
No: 93%
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