Busiest shopping week of the 21st century
Consumers play waiting game for discounts
December 17 2002
The latest shopper numbers from analysts Solution Products Systems Limited (SPSL) shows that UKconsumers are shopping later than ever this year.
The traffic analyst believes consumers are waiting for retailers nerves to break and pre-Christmas price discounting to run amok, but also predictd that this week will be the busiest since the turn of the century.
Dr Tim Denison, director of knowledge management at SPSL, said: “We are certainly seeing a different pattern to Christmas shopper traffic this year. November was generally a little quieter than last year in the shops, but this was more than compensated for by consumers buying on-line. It seems many ‘time-poor’ consumers turned to the Internet for their first-phase shopping”
Shoppers returned to the stores in earnest in the last week of November, rising by 10.3 per cent over the previous week. “This was when the more conventional shoppers really took to the streets this year, looking to get Christmas shopping under their belts, before the guilt of being unprepared set in.”
In the first two weeks of December the Retail Traffic Index (RTI) shopper numbers have risen week-on-week, but are 2.7 per cent down on the same fortnight last year. Dr Denison said: “Though traffic flows have been reasonably healthy and in line with our long-range forecast, my interpretation is that over the last fortnight we have seen the lull before the storm. I think this week’s trading will be the most hectic that we have seen this century.
“Our data shows a significant trend developing over recent years: increasingly few shopping trips take place over the first fortnight of December trading. Many ‘live-for-today’ consumers have simply not even undertaken their first phase shopping yet, confident that retail stocks are heavy.”
He predicts others will be waiting for retailers to announce pre-Christmas sales or discounted lines. “In many respects the story of Christmas trading has changed forever. Overall it will depend on who holds their nerve the longest: the wily consumer or the old campaigner retailer.”
