Downturn for Woolworths

Can it get better for Woolworths? Probably not! Earlier this week it was reported that Hilco (restructuring specialists) were set to pay just £1 for loss-making Woolworth’s retail business. The retailer has debts of £385 million and is at risk of going into administration. The retailer has stopped selling toys online in the run up to Christmas - a key time for selling online! Even John Lewis reported a 20% uplift in toy sales on the back of a general downturn by 8% YOY. The decision is apparenting part of its plans to stop multichannel retailing, seems like a step back not a step forward?

Only time will tell on this one...

Remember, Remember the 8th of December!

IMRG and Capgemini today announced their predictions for UK online sales for Christmas and the final quarter of 2008. Based on the trends from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, which has tracked online spending for the past seven years, a total of £13.16 billion will be spent by British shoppers in the run up to Christmas – an equivalent of £215 for every person in the UK. This represents a 15 per cent increase in year on year sales but also shows a slowdown in growth when compared to the 54 per cent year on year increase seen in 2007.

Monday 8th December looks set to be the biggest UK online shopping day of 2008, with sales worth £320 million. Forty two per cent of those sales will take place outside of traditional shopping hours, either before 9am or after 6pm. The peak shopping hour is expected to take place between 1-2pm on Monday 8th December when £28 million will be spent online during this single hour. This is double the amount spent online during the peak hour of 2006, at midday on Monday 11th December.