Christmas ‘to be better than last year’, say retailers

Retailers are hoping that Christmas trading this year can ‘only get better’, according to the latest ‘snapshot survey’ from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The BRC’s Christmas Trading Snapshot Survey examined the attitudes of retailers over the first ten days of December. It found that 42% believe this Christmas sales period will eclipse last year’s, while the remaining 58% think that sales would be the same.

Crucially, says the organisation, none believed that sales would be worse than last year.

And it could be a good Christmas period for shoppers, according to the retailers themselves, with 47% saying that there are likely to be greater levels of discounting and promotions compared to a lean 2008, and less than a quarter expecting there to be lower levels.

Meanwhile, those polled were roughly evenly split on what impact they expected from VAT reverting to 17.5% on 1 January, with 53% believing that consumers would bring purchases forward to avoid the rise, compared to 47% who thought it would have no effect.

Despite the relatively promising signals, BRC director-general Stephen Robertson urged cool heads, pointing to customers made cautious by an uncertain jobs market and “the tax battering” unveiled by the chancellor in the Pre-Budget Report.

“There’s some good news here, but we’re not out of trouble yet,” he said.

“I’m reassured that retailers are more confident about their prospects this Christmas, but remember the comparison is with dramatic sales falls last year.

“There are more customers willing and able to spend now, but for many retailers it’s taking even more discounts to persuade them to buy.”

IMAGE Dominic Lipinski /PA Wire

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