A decade of change in the retail industry

Welcome to our tenth annual survey of retail sector confidence. Every year for the past decade, Deloitte has carried out this in-depth analysis of the spending habits and the underlying moods of both consumers and retailers ahead of the all-important Christmas period.

During October and November, we gathered extensive data and opinions from a balanced cross-section of the UK's retailers, as well as broad sample of the buying public across the country. By gauging the opinion of over a thousand consumers of all ages, and a significant number of retailers - and comparing  them to results from previous years - we have been able to build up a detailed picture of Christmas shopping habits, motivators and strategies.

One clear message this year is that consumers are in control! People seem to be know what they want, they're preparing to research the best deal and they have little loyalty to retailers who don't provide the magic combination of convenience, good customer service and excellent price.

The growing polarisation between the stars and the strugglers in the industry underlies how tough it is for retailers to get it right. All it takes is a combination of superb brand-building, being totally tuned in to customers and faultless delivery and execution. Oh, and the elusive 'wow factor'. No wonder the High Street is such a jungle these days. But those retailers who do achieve this near-impossible balance should be in for a bumper Christmas this year.

Consumers have told us that they will spend slightly more money this year (2%), which given the amount of additional retail space, this will put pressure on like for like sales. And the level of discounting already in evidence, which canny consumers now wait for, suggests that margins could be lost.

The trend we saw last year - towards a rather uneasy co-existence between traditional bricks and mortar outlets and the newer breed of Internet-savvy retailers- has been cemented this year. The actual value of on-line sales should break all records this festive season.

Learn more in our report The 10th Christmas Retail Survey (PDF, 433 KB)