With disruptive components like the price of dwelling disaster and UK postal strikes negatively influencing how customers shopped, the UK noticed a 2.9% decline in retail spending final vacation season, the biggest drop since 1991. 
This yr, insights supplied by our UK Christmas Reward Shopping for Market Report 2023 recommend customers will nonetheless be prioritising worth. Moreover, another key traits we’ve seen are the rise in attitudes towards self-love in retail, concerns for sustainability and a want to carry onto and reminisce over blissful reminiscences.

Final vacation season, nearly half of all customers gifted somebody an merchandise of clothes. As outlined within the UK Retail Rankings 2023, trend and sweetness have continued to develop after being a number of the hardest-hit industries within the pandemic. This promising development is predicted to endure, with the highlight remaining on ‘loving your self’ and ‘treating your self’, alongside a resurgence in vacation and post-COVID return-to-office wardrobes, as explored in our UK British Existence Report 2023. 
UK customers are eager to experience the wave of empowerment by trend with gift-giving. For instance, underwear has change into a cheap solution to encourage confidence and self-love in a associate or shut pal. And it doesn’t need to be racy lingerie both, many manufacturers are placing additional emphasis on on a regular basis wearability. Lounge.com is a good instance of discovering the steadiness between affordability, consolation and just a little sexiness.

38% of respondents reported giving magnificence and private care merchandise to their family members final Christmas. Over time, there was mounting stress on magnificence and self-care manufacturers to be extra clear about their manufacturing course of. Nevertheless, we’ve got discovered that the price of dwelling disaster has resulted in customers prioritising worth over ethics. 

Fortunately, there are many methods to supply magnificence merchandise that align with shopper sustainability values at an inexpensive value. This may come within the type of worth packaging or profiting from recycling incentives. For instance, LUSH has been exchanging 5 used pots for a free recent face masks since 2009 – a fantastic concept for a stocking filler! 
Moreover, there was a increase in hybrid merchandise which permits customers to shrink their make-up luggage and minimize down on prices and plastic waste. Assume moisturising and colour-correcting basis, concealer with SPF and spotlight and lip/cheek tints. One stand-out model is REN Clear Skincare,  providing a wide range of budget-friendly and sustainable present units every boasting a spread of advantages equivalent to brightening, firming, hydrating and smoothing, amongst others.

We now have discovered that with multi-channel booksellers, in-store gross sales nonetheless outperform on-line. We speculate that it is because the bookstore expertise, with its inviting ambiance and potentialities, can’t be totally replicated on-line. This might be as a result of many readers nonetheless benefit from the romantic concept of stumbling upon a brand new favorite; looking for a title on-line can typically take the enjoyable out of issues.

Few retailers seize the charmingly cosy and quaint essence of the bookshop all of us have inside our heads like Daunt Books. They do extremely effectively at guiding clients to their subsequent learn, by arranging them in accordance with nation quite than alphabetically. This implies readers may serendipitously bump into the proper cookery guide after they thought they wished a historic novel. Daunt E-book’s creaky floorboards, vintage balusters and glowing inexperienced lamps create a bookish atmosphere that bibliophiles adore. 

There’s additionally bookshop.org, an e-commerce website with the aim of serving to impartial bookstores. Buying a guide from this retailer will contribute 10% to an earnings pool which can then be distributed to taking part bookstores every month. Alternatively, clients can choose a selected retailer they usually’ll obtain 30% of the duvet value – excellent if their cherished one has a bookshop that’s near their coronary heart.

With regards to the vacation season, customers love custom. Many lean on the harmless model of Christmas they skilled as a baby, like placing out carrots and cookies for Santa and his reindeer. Presents that evoke cherished reminiscences are broadly loved and types recognise this. For instance, confectionary manufacturers lately have reverted again to retro or nostalgic packaging to hark again to a ‘earlier than’ time. We predict that buyers will focus significantly on merchandise and experiences that they loved earlier than the pandemic began. 

We’re nonetheless dwelling by the price of dwelling disaster and that can drastically have an effect on spending habits this vacation season. Nevertheless, we’ve discovered that worth isn’t the one issue customers are fascinated about of their current shopping for. Buyers need to infuse their gift-giving with empowerment, sustainability and nostalgia in an inexpensive approach. Because of this, companies ought to endeavour to comply with these feel-good traits this winter. Check out our in-depth market analysis on Christmas Reward Shopping for for extra skilled insights or subscribe to our e-newsletter, Highlight, to get free insights delivered on to your inbox.