The internet has had a counter-intuitive effect this Christmas - but it should not have surprised anyone who had been keeping an eye on the marketing activity of some of the UK's most powerful retailers.
First and foremost, some of December’s sales were dragged into November amid heavy Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping promotions. This was a product of marketing but also fed into a new habit among hard-up British shoppers to plan, get some of their shopping done early and to make hay, or save money, wherever they can while the promotional sun is shining.
More importantly it was an effort by big names including John Lewis, Asda and Amazon to take ownership of the Cyber Monday event - and pull the whole event into the week before. It wrong-footed many first who had not seen it coming.
Black Friday was first and foremost driven by markdowns on electrical goods and gadgets driven by global suppliers. But, in for a penny, in for a pound, retailers with a broader base used the hook to give shoppers a few extra bargains and get them in the mood.
Monday was undoubtedly a busy day, but it now looks like a lot of early spending had already been done. Certainly, if you had not made your money by midnight on Cyber Monday (December 2) you had missed out on a seriously busy shopping rush.
Then shoppers took a pause. The problem was, the pause lasted for two weeks. Data beginning to emerge shows that November was almost as busy as December.
This had a particularly strong effect on bricks and mortar-focused retailers who were not able to react quickly to late November/Early December promotions.
The second effect of the internet was to cause an unpredictable delay that panicked so many big retailers that simply and inexplicably had failed to get their heads around new consumer habits. Just like the old days, shoppers have returned to that nasty habit of increasingly leaving everything until the last minute.
Pressed for time, shoppers did the leg work online and then made for stores to collect goods at their leisure. A couple of hours during the evening on Thursday and a 45 minute dash to a couple of stores on the way home on Monday - job done.
A nightmare scenario for the unprepared retailer, a dream for many shoppers.
Barclaycard figures show that spending from the December 3 to December 17 rose by just 0.9 per cent. Barely anymore than last year - and a decline in real terms after the effects of inflation are stripped out.
The lull in spending followed a 10.4 per cent increase over the previous two weeks from November 19 to December 2 - straddling Black Friday-Cyber Monday (Nevember 29 and December 2 respectively) followed by a lacklustre rise again at the other end when sales began to climb again - albeit far less sharply at 1.2 per cent in the 7 days to December 24.
The rise may not seem sharp but the effect on the ground was stunning as spending was channeled into those retailers with credible click-and-collect offers.
The pattern is likely to be repeated new year and, probably, exacerbated further as retailers target shoppers as soon as those mid-to-late November pay packets arrive.
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