- 26 November 2019
- Transport / Logistics Services
Royal Mail has published research showing that half of all UK Christmas shopping is done online after an 11% year on year growth.
The Royal Mail research shows some 75% of Christmas shopping starts in November with men spending an average of £348 and woman, £300. The returns rate last year was around 10% – women being twice as likely to return goods than men.
There is some concern among industry insiders about the ongoing success of Black Friday. Though there was a retail sales peak of £1.4 billion, the High Street lost 7% year on year while online shopping gained a similar amount. It is projected that Black Friday 2019 is likely to see around 0% overall growth as against 2018.
Though a necessary evil for retail outlets, the peak season around Christmas has long been necessary for overall profits. Black Friday has been seen as a way of driving a first peak earlier but with stagnant growth we are seeing attempts at adding China’s Singles Day (11/11) as another sales drive. It remains to be seen what will happen in that regard next year.
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