High street 2012 Christmas trading overview

Retail sales values rise 1.5% in November

The value of retail sales jumped 1.5% year-on-year in November with sales volumes growing by 0.9%, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS found that prices of goods sold increased by 0.5% year-on-year, driven by food price inflation. Data from the CBI Distributive Trades Survey supports this with almost half of retailers reporting an increase in their volume of sales against the same period last year, while just +16% reported a sales decline ahead of expectations. Online sales jumped 18% year-on-year to 8.4bn in November, according to online trade body IMRG. The Capgemini eRetail Sales Index showed sales soared 25% on Octobers figures as monthly sales topped the 8bn mark for the first time. Sectors traditionally associated with Christmas experienced the greatest uplift, with health and beauty recording an 82% leap from October whilst gift sales rose 132% month-on-month and 38% year-on-year, the highest jump in almost five years. Online sales were also boosted as a result of temperatures dropping across much of Britain in November, with many people preferring to shop online as they updated their winter wardrobes, the survey found.

Christmas retail like-for-likes edge up 0.3%

Retailers are preparing for a flat trading year after like-for-like sales edged up just 0.3% in the critical December trading period, against a 2.2% increase in the same month the previous year. Total sales for last month jumped 1.5% against December 2011, when they advanced 4.1%, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. BRC director-general Helen Dickinson describes how footfall was disappointingly low in December this year as rain kept shoppers off the high street and the lure of convenience led people to spend online. For the week beginning December 3rd, footfall in shopping centres slumped 4.9%, while shopper numbers across high streets and out-of-town locations fell 0.8% and 0.4% respectively. Again, shopper numbers fell sharply in week beginning December 10th as footfall dropped 2.6%. Footfall in shopping centres reported the biggest decline, plunging 4.3%, according to the BRC-Springboard Footfall Monitor while out-town was down 2.1% and high streets fell 2%.

Debenhams posts best ever December sales

Debenhams has posted its highest ever December like-for-like sales, up 5% in the five weeks to January 5. The department store retailer said with Christmas Day falling on a Tuesday, it expected shoppers to buy later in the season, which is why it recorded its highest ever December sales. In the 18 weeks to January 5 like-for-like sales advanced 2.9% and online sales rocketed 39%, trading ahead of expectations. Online took a bigger proportion of total sales this year, accounting for 12.6% of total sales against 9.3% in the previous year.

House of Fraser has "best ever" Christmas as like-for-likes jump 6.3%

Department store House of Fraser said last Christmas was its best ever as like-for-likes jumped 6.3% in the six weeks to January 5. The retailer said it had record sales in the fortnight before Christmas and it achieved sales growth in all categories, with a particularly strong performance in fashion and beauty. House of Frasers online business thrived during the period, with sales up 48% over the six week period.

John Lewis feels festive cheer as Christmas like-for-likes soar 13%

Department store John Lewis has emerged as one of the big winners of the festive period with like-for-likes soaring 13% in the five weeks to December 29. Total sales jumped 14.8% to 684.8m over the period. Sales rocketed 25.5% compared with the Christmas period two years ago and like-for-likes leaped 20.1%. Electricals and home technology was the star performer with sales climbing 30.9% year-on-year, while fashion, including beauty, was up 10.4% and home sales increased 6.2%. Sales ordered online surged 44.3% against last years total. The channel now accounts for a quarter of John Lewis business.

QD Stores posts 8% like-for-like Christmas jump

QD Stores delivered sales up 8% across the Christmas trading period. The value retailer, which operates 38 stores, increased the number of exclusive brands and promotions in store. It recorded a strong like-for-like sales jump across toys, which were up 33% in December. Meanwhile, grocery like-for-likes increased 26% and menswear surged 21%. Household cleaning and toiletries posted the strongest sales increase up 44%. QD will also launch a transactional website this year. Originally planned for launch before Christmas, the website has been delayed.

High street 2012 Christmas trading overview

Phones 4U Christmas like-for-like sales surge 15.8%

Phones 4U retail like-for-like sales soared 15.8% in December following momentum built up over a strong year. The phone specialists retail division recorded a total sales rise of 23.3% in December to 121.6m. Total sales were up 20.7% in the year to December 31 while full-year like-for-like sales rose 11.9%. Online sales grew strongly, up 47.3% in December, and up 73.2% for the full year.

Marks & Spencer Christmas like-for-likes fall as clothing sales slump

Marks & Spencers like-for-like sales fell 1.8% over Christmas, when clothing sales slumped. M&S chief executive Marc Bolland admitted that the general merchandise performance, which suffered a 3.8% like-for-like decline over the 13 weeks to December 29, is not yet satisfactory. M&Ss food like-for-likes were flat over the period, increasing just 0.3%. However, the retailer said it notched up record sales of nearly 330m in the two key Christmas trading weeks and outperformed the market by around 4%. Total UK sales edged up 0.3% as total food sales rose 2.7% while general merchandise revenues dropped 2.2%. Multichannel sales jumped 10.8%, with and sales from mobile devices soared 90%.

Summary
One could quite easily get carried away when analysing the Christmas trading performance of the High Street retailers who have thus far released their numbers. Apart from Marks & Spencer, the picture is almost universally positive. It must be remembered, however, that traditionally those with the most favourable numbers are the first to release them and with most retailers still to disclose their performance one would expect the final outlook to not be so universally positive. One consistent theme throughout the results is the strong contributing factor online sales have made to each of the retailers. Footfall into shopping centres and physical stores was down YOY with many preferring the convenience and comfort of shopping online. Electrical and Health & Beauty products seem to have performed consistently well across the store groups with strong positive year-on-year growth.