The nations shoppers are wedged up and won’t go home until they’ve spent the lot, putting a predicted average of £833,000 per minute into the much needed shopping tills in a final pre Christmas flurry of activity.

The predicted spend is set to smash previous records as the snow and bitterly cold weather has kept many shoppers away from the high street in recent weeks and tomorrow will be the latest that they are likely to leave it, failing that it will be murder on Christmas Eve!!

VISA expect to process 26.5 million transactions worth more than £1.2bn on Thursday alone.

A new independent report commissioned by Skillsmart Retail released on the busiest online shopping day examines the growing influence of e-commerce within the UK economy.

The report concludes that e-retailing has the greatest potential for growth all year round compared to its high street cousin; and could potentially double its retail market share by 2012, when £1 in every £10 will be spent online.

Strong year-on-year growth has defied the sluggish growth in the sector as a whole; sales of non food items grew 17.9% online compared to 0.8% in the overall sector.

With many analysts predicting a ‘last hurrah’ from consumers before next year’s VAT increase and up to 80% of Christmas shoppers using the internet to make purchases this year, online retailers are anticipating their strongest ever sales.

Online Christmas sales are likely to be up 17.6% on last year, accounting for 9.5% of all sales over the festive period. A total of £56billion is expected to be spent online in 2010.

With the current growing trend for mobile internet purchasing now becoming a big part of online sales it will be interesting to see how the traditional retail industry is able to adapt to survive during the coming years.

However, this year the luxury diamond brand De Beers have invested in Hollywood inspired technology with its groundbreaking 3D window displays in both London and New York.

Using cutting-edge technology, the enchanting world of De Beers comes to life in a specially created 3D film by Holition. The film is shown on customized Alioscopy screens which remove the need for 3D glasses to be worn, delighting and surprising the throngs of unsuspecting Christmas shoppers.

Unbelievably realistic and multi-dimensional, the innovative 3D technology will transport passers by into the mesmerizing world of De Beers, bringing the beauty, allure and power of its jewellery seemingly within reach in the heightened reality of three dimension moving imagery.

The brand has become synonymous with the celebrity market with stars like Alexa Chung, Olivia Palermo and Gemma Arterton among its patrons, but perversely the brand was also pushed in the spotlight a few years back as the fashion of choice of the Chav set, which proves that any publicity is good.

The incredible growth and success of Mulberry is no better demonstrated than through the opening of a new flagship store in New York and their new London flagship store on New Bond Street. This uniquely designed building has brought together the best of traditional British crafts, including dry stone walling, with cutting edge architectural and design disciplines that have created an innovative and dynamic retail environment.

The opening of the flagship stores, Mulberry’s win at the British Fashion Awards (Best Designer Brand) and the outstanding results for the last six months all point towards further success to come for the brand.

This video gives a sneak preview of the new store at 50 New Bond Street and explains the painstaking detail that has gone into the opening of the store.

The DMA research team conducted their research by posing as potential customers, requesting catalogues and brochures from 200 UK based companies covering a variety of sectors.

The research found that a dismal 19% of retail and service industry companies contacted during the survey did not respond to requests for information.

Companies were also evaluated on their acknowledgement, use of personalisation and presentation. Of those companies that responded, just 38.5 per cent sent an email acknowledgement and only 53 per cent sent a personalised response. Many were also guilty of sending duplicate response packs, incorrect address details and poor presentation.

The automotive and home sectors recorded the best response rates while hobbies, pets, sports and transport sectors comprised the largest number of non-respondent companies. Virgin Holidays, Voyages of Discovery, Honda Lawn & Garden and several automotive brands including Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi and Skoda came out on top, responding within one day with a personalised response. Other brands such as Vauxhall, Laura Ashley and Everest Windows fared less well, taking over a week to respond or not responding at all.

Sally Hollis, chair of the DMA Response Management Council, commented;

“While the UK online economy may be booming, the findings should be a warning to business as more and more shoppers are using both the web and catalogues to purchase goods – with this increasing by about 60 per cent in the run up to Christmas. The internet offers consumers a massive choice and they are quick to move on if they don’t get a prompt response. It’s a proven fact that a fast personalised reply will result in more sales – businesses need to buck up their ideas by going back to basics and focus on offering good customer service.”

Jos Dewing, head of marketing & reservations, Voyages of Discovery & Swan Hellenic, said:

“Our customer is always at the very centre of our marketing approach and we treat every marketing request as we would expect our own to be treated with regular reviews and internal testing of procedures. With this in mind, we are delighted to have been rated so highly within this useful research project by the DMA and will continue to improve and develop our approach to fulfilment so that we remain at the top of our field.”

The specialist drinks industry magazine Drink Business carried out a study into the hitherto little researched market of virtual wine sales in the UK and concluded that online wine merchants are generating an estimated £200million per year.

As a nation the UK has one of the highest figures of wine consumption and the study reveals that the online market is the fastest growing channel in terms of retail sales.

Backed up by the findings of e-commerce specialist IMRG/Capgemini, the report calculates that internet sales of not just wine, but also beer and spirits, grew by 23% in the first quarter of 2010.

In a seperate report in The Guardian it is suggested that Britain’s love affair with lager is on the wane and more surprisingly that there is a growth in the formerly stagnant market of real ales.

The new edition of the Good Beer Guide reveals that there are now more than 700 real ale breweries in the UK, the highest number since the second world war and four times more than in 1971 when the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) was launched in an effort to save the industry from being wiped out.

While the changes in our beer drinking habits are most significant in the surroundings of our local the same is also true with our alcohol consumption at home.

Supermarkets have responded to the reported growth in real ale sales and may even be driving the trend as it is estimated that there are now somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 bottled ales on sale in off-licences and stores across the UK.

Tesco alone now stocks 350 varieties of bottled ales, compared to a miserly choice of just twenty brands five years ago. Independent retail analysts Kantar Worldpanel confirm that shop sales of real ale increased by 7.2% during last year, while consumption of lager fell by 4%.

Taste seems to be the winner here, while wine has always been appreciated as a compliment to good food, the choice  from established wine growing regions of Europe have been complimented by the fresher fruitier output from Australia, California and South Africa over recent years.

Lager on the other hand is seldom drunk for its taste, strength and coldness are the two most important things with most lager drinkers, but Real Ale is all about taste and the figures suggest that beer drinkers are starting to realise just that.

Delivered exclusively through the National Skills Academy for Retail’s network of retail skills shops, located on high streets and in shopping centres nationwide, the series of seven master classes covers the key elements for success, including: the all-important vision for the store, developing the brand, buying the right merchandise, the look and feel of the shop and balancing the books.

Against the backdrop of tight economic trading conditions and with the BBC receiving over 6,500 applications from independent retailers desperate to feature on the current TV series of ‘Mary Queen of Shops’, The Mary Portas guide to successful retailing couldn’t be better timed and will be a real boost to thousands of independent and small businesses on the high street.

As outlined in Deloitte’s paper “2010 FIFA World Cup. A Turning Point for South Africa,” South Africa is reaping the rewards of hosting the Cup, including infrastructure improvements, an economic boost, and an increase of national pride.

“South Africa has been likened to a mix of the developed and developing world,” said Lwazi Bam, Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Southern Africa. “On the one hand, a strong technological and economic base put it on a par with the well-developed nations of the world. On the other, infrastructure shortfalls have contributed to keeping it from realizing its full economic potential. This major global event is a catalyst for much-needed infrastructure improvements.”

The need to move tens of thousands of fans, teams, and accompanying supportpersonnel rapidly from one place to another prioritized the strengthening of South Africa’s transportation system.  The country completed much of the
first section of its new high speed Gautrain passenger railway and added bus lines.  Highways were upgraded and the city of Durban was able to finish the country’s first new green field airport in five decades.  These infrastructure projects have increased employment opportunities and provided workers long-term skills and training.

One of the challenges in building the infrastructure for the event was generating power without an unduly adverse environmental impact. New stadium facilities include such environmentally-friendly features as natural ventilation and rain water capture systems.

In addition, host cities have undertaken large-scale tree-planting projects in an effort to soak up excess carbon dioxide.  As a coal-dependent economy, South African faces challenges; however, these steps move the country toward greener energy sources.

To ensure security, the minister of police has consulted with officials from more than 30 different countries whose nationals are in the country, resulting in an unprecedented level of international cooperation.

Seeking to balance a welcoming atmosphere with rigorous security standards, 40,000 police officers, 25 percent of the country’s total force, have been assigned to the Cup.  All of these activities have required a renewed spirit of cooperation between national and local agencies and departments.

Greg Pellegrino, Global Public Sector Industry Leader, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said;

“South Africa has already realized many of the benefits hoped for by any national host of a major international sporting event. The event has provided a boost to national infrastructure improvements, increased employment during the global financial crisis, and provided a unifying rallying point for a still-developing nation. Moving the FIFA World Cup from a developed economy such as Germany, to an emerging economy such as South Africa, and to a continent that has never hosted the Cup, creates an important precedent for future hosts such as Brazil in 2014,”

That is the message from the Libertarian Alliance concerning measures by the new government to stop shops in England & Wales from selling alcohol at below cost price. I would like to think that it is a tongue in cheek response to the government plans that have received support from Tesco.

The outspoken Director of Libertarian Alliance, Dr Sean Gabb, made the following comments in London this week:

“The Government’s proposal, and the welcome given it by Tesco’s, amount to an attack on the poor. The ruling class politicians who continually whine about alcohol will not be affected by minimum pricing or the abolition of special offers. I might add that none of them can be affected by such laws. Income aside, anyone who lies his way into Parliament can look forward to round the clock drinking in the Palace of Westminster of untaxed alcohol.

But the measures will hurt poor people, for whom alcohol will become cripplingly expensive and hard to find. They have the same right to drink as the rest of us. Bearing in mind the problems willed on them by our exploitative ruling class, they often have a greater need to drink.

The claim that drinking ’causes’ public disorder is nonsense. Alcohol does not run about the streets. People do. If people are making nuisances of themselves, the police should be reminded that they are no longer New Labour’s equivalent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and told to start protecting life and property again.

But, going back to Tesco’s, this is also another attempt by a joint stock limited liability corporation – which has no right to exist – to limit competition and raise profits. We have no doubt the Company will use the good publicity got from supporting this wicked policy to win planning permission appeals to build more superstores. The incidental misery into which millions of our poorest fellow citizens will be thrown never crosses their privileged, high-salaried minds.

On behalf of the Libertarian Alliance, I call on all progressive people of good will to boycott Tesco until it stops supporting this attack on the poor and on free competition.”

We would point out that while we find this article amusing, it does deliver a strong relevant message, not about alcohol particularly, but moreover the manipulative nature of big business on national law making.

On the context of the story, I firmly believe that selling any product for under cost price is fundamentally wrong in business, particularly as the customer will be paying over the odds for other products from the same supplier to counter act the losses.

As a teetotaller I very much resent the fact that my shopping bill is subsidising others who do purchase alcoholic products or anything else at below cost price – whoever they are.

next

The UK’s second largest clothing retailer, Next has warned that consumer spending is likely to slow after the General Election as the new government takes stricter measures to tackle the budget deficit.

Next does expect sales and profits to improve during 2010, but they remain ‘very cautious in our outlook for the year ahead.’

Next reports that sales for the business increased in the 13weeks to end of April 2010, by 2.2% over the same quarter in 2009, but that high street sales had actually fallen by 0.8% in the period.

The Next Directory catalogue and online sales put a smile on the faces of the board as sales increased by 7.2% in that area, making up for the poorer performance of the chain of retail outlets.

The figures suggest that the public are still spending, although not necessarily physically travelling to the high street stores and comes as no real surprise as online spending continues to grow in the UK.

Next said it was on track to achieve a full-year profit towards the top end of market expectations, with growth in sales and dividends expected.