Pre-Christmas discounting marginally above last year’s figures

RETAILERS are discounting in the run up to Christmas but the high street has yet to reach for the panic button, new figures suggest.

PwC found last week 69% of high street retailers were running sales or promotions in their windows but despite the challenges facing the sector in 2012 that is only marginally above last year's figure.

It is also far short of the 80% seen in stores in the run-up to the 2008 festive season.

Randal Casson, retail partner at PwC in Leeds, said: "The dramatic advance in tablet and smartphone ownership and usage, especially away from home, is making it much more difficult to predict when, where and how customers will be shopping this Christmas. There is a huge array of information on customer attitudes and behaviour available but without comparable history it is tough to predict future trends - especially with an extra weekend for shopping this year.

"This year will see a fascinating combination of analysis and real retail instinct being played out at Monday's retailer trading meetings - with critical decisions being made that can make or break a year's financial performance.

"The number of retailers running promotions suggests that there is now a base level of activity which is seen as necessary to be ‘in the game’ - however for now the depth of discounting may reflect retailers keeping their powder dry. Expect the unexpected this week - both in-store and online - as the fight for the Christmas spending will go down to the wire."

Source : James Reed - TheBusinessDesk.com
www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/409381-retailers-fight-for-christmas-spend.html