As retailers go head-to-head for seasonal spending this festive season, some surprise winners are already emerging, according to a new survey.
RetailNext, an analytics solution for bricks-and-mortar retailers, has found that discounters are tipped to pick up a significant percentage of spend in the final days of pre-Christmas trading.
Research of over 1,000 UK consumers by RetailNext showed that shoppers plan to switch over a third (36%) of Christmas spending budgets from traditional high street retailers to discount brands, such as Lidl, Aldi, Home Bargains, and B&M, rising to 41% of Millennials’ intended festive spending.
Discounter Switching
While data from PwC suggests retail spend on gifts and Christmas celebrations will rise 5% year-on-year – the first-time consumers will outstrip festive spending since 2021 – shoppers will continue to express value-based buying tendencies, making them mindful about where they spend and intensifying discounter switching, said Gary Whittemore, head of sales, at RetailNext.
“While the acute pressure on household spend appears to be easing, shoppers aren’t simply snapping back to pre-cost-of-living spending habits," he said.
"Having learnt savvy and thrifty shopping hacks, consumers have redefined their concept of value.
"And this is bearing out in expected share of wallet for Christmas, with discounters’ retail offers, such as Aldi’s middle aisle, likely to benefit from these value-driven buying behaviours.”
New Store Openings
Aldi, which overtook Asda as the UK’s third largest supermarket earlier this year, has been ambitiously opening UK stores ahead of Christmas to increase its footprint, with 11 new store openings in November and December.
Meanwhile, Lidl has also opened six stores in December as part of its a multi-million-pound investment in its UK bricks-and-mortar estate, with Kantar’s data suggesting it is now the UK’s fastest growing grocer, with sales up by 6.6% in the run up to Christmas and store footfall rising 10% compared to last year.
While M&S topped the key anchor stores that would drive Christmas shoppers to visit retail parks or out-of-town shopping destinations (42%) in RetailNext’s poll, this was followed by discount brands B&M (41%), Home Bargains (38%) and discount supermarket, Aldi (32%).
