Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/11/2013 -- Despite fears of a gloomy Christmas trading period, the general consensus has been a positive one. The relatively mild weather in the lead-up resulted in no travel or delivery disruptions as in previous years. Nevertheless weak spending throughout 2012 in many sectors and the difficulty some retailers are experiencing in adapting to online spend has caused varied results.

Report Scope

- Understand developments in your sector with like-for-like and total growth of over 40 retailers analysed and compared with 2011
- Utilise five year growth trends for your sector and compare it with other key sectors to see where growth lies
- Plan for Christmas 2013 with Q4 forecasts for volume, inflation and total growth
- Understand changing consumer trends and how to address new behaviour in 2012 to gain loyalty

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Report Highlights

While electricals retailers showed the highest total growth of 9.5%, this is mired by the collapse of Comet, Jessops and, earlier in 2012, GAME - none of which released results. This has left Dixons, with its Currys and PC World fascias, as the dominant force, with an opportunity to rapidly increase revenue.

The theme among the strongest performers in the clothing & footwear sector was that they all had a strong e-commerce presence. ASOS, Boux Avenue and Next have modern online operations, whereas Marks & Spencer and Mothercare do not, and this has been reflected in their relative growth rates.

The ongoing battle between the Big Four food & grocery retailers to offer the cheapest price is having a negative effect on their growth and margins. The catalyst for this has been consumers' readiness to trade down to cheaper retailers such as Aldi, which reported growth of 30.1% versus the sector median of 1.4%.

Reasons to Get this Report

- Who were the winning and losing retailers & sectors in Q4 2012, and why?
- How can retailers address changing consumer behaviour to grow sales in 2013?
- What sectors are going to show growth in 2013?

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