A post-pandemic bounceback by stores is likely to continue at Christmas, powered by their experiential and omnichannel appeal.
A Christmas advert caught my attention the other day.
It wasn’t in a magazine or an online promotion; it was a poster in a Middlesbrough travel agent’s window. In among the offers for winter sun breaks in Benidorm or visits to see the Northern Lights was a bus trip to Birmingham – two days for £89 and the big draw was the chance for seasonal shopping at Primark.
Even Middlesbrough’s biggest advocates would admit that the town centre’s retail offer has been sadly depleted.
Frasers and Debenhams stand empty. So too, after 122 years of trading, does Marks & Spencer’s high street store after the retailer decided to focus instead on its Teesside Park branch.
“Stores have bounced back to an extent that surprised many, while online growth has moderated or even gone into reverse”
One stalwart that does remain in the town centre, though, is Primark, which has a perfectly good branch there. So it’s great testament to the appeal of the retailer’s Birmingham flagship that people are willing to travel almost 200 miles to spend there – a true destination store.
Since the end of the pandemic, stores have bounced back to an extent that surprised many, while retailers’ online growth has moderated or even gone into reverse.
As Christmas nears, some retailers are ramping up their openings. Poundland, for instance, will open or relocate 19 stores by December as part of a 75-strong programme over three months – one shop, surely a sign of the times, will be in former John Lewis premises.
At the other end of the retail spectrum, Majestic opened two shops this week – the first time it has done so in a decade.
Retailers’ ongoing commitment to stores is evident, and this Christmas they are likely once again to play a starring role in powering performance.
Online, while likely to be up too, is more likely to take a supporting role after a lacklustre year.
The most recent Office for National Statistics monthly retail sales data showed a continued decline in non-store retail, albeit exaggerated by the unseasonable weather that also hit retailers with bricks-and-mortar stores.
Online retailers specifically lost share by value – their proportion of sales edged down from 27% in August to 26.7%.
It’s important to acknowledge that is well up on the 19.6% online held in February 2020, but as Christmas gets closer online retail trade body IMRG has cautioned that the gifting category is down by 12.5% so far this year.
There are big disparities, though. Last month, multichannel retailers’ sales in the category were up 5.5% year on year, while online-only retailers suffered their biggest fall of the year – down 26.7%.
“The appeal of stores such as Birmingham Primark shows that great shops should thrive over Christmas”
Research for Retail Week indicates in fact that online-only retailers feature highly when it comes to where shoppers are likely to spend this Chrsitmas. But after the pandemic boom and the growth it brought, there does not seem to be any catalyst to definitively power online forward at pace.
The appeal of stores such as Birmingham Primark shows that great shops should thrive over Christmas.
More widely, it surely points to the enduring importance of stores. Multichannel retailers, in particular, play a pivotal part in bringing advantages such as click-and-collect, with the opportunity of add-on sales and efficiencies when it comes to returns.
Not all shops will thrive, but the best are well-positioned to make a difference to performance at this vital time in the retail calendar as the golden quarter whizzes by.
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