PAMPERED PETS15.8% of shoppers bought gifts for pets last year, ahead of grandparents (14.3%) and colleagues (10.2%). Toys being the most popular followed by food.

FAST PAYMENTS& DELIVERYTrue retail winners this year will be the those that offer flexibility in both deliveryand payment, especially click or reserve and collect.

Supermarkets will focus mostly on food and m-commerce will be attractive for time-pressed shoppers over Christmas.

JUST DESSERTSMINCE PIES Were the most popular traditional Christmas treat last year.

BRANDY BUTTER REVIVALLast year, 51.6% of shoppers bought brandy butter, compared to just 28.4% in 2010.

CHRISTMAS CAKEChristmas cakes sales particularly dropped in popularity in 2011.

CHRISTMAS PUDDINGLess than half bought puddings.

Online purchases of music and DVD will dominate, with 78.6% of the retail market share this year. This will rise to 97.1% in 2016.

Books will increasingly be bought online, with 52.9% of sales by 2013.

However, these products are likely to suffer in the wake of e-readers and tablets, and popularity of downloading and streaming.

MUSIC & DVDs

BOOKS

Last year, 7.4% shopped online using a tablet. This year retailers with tablet optimised websites will be best placed to take advantage of time pressures for shoppers who need to ensure they are buying the right gifts.

This Christmas tablet purchases, especially for parents and grandparents, are expected to be the major gift trend as they are easier to use and more leisurely. Some of the top toys touted are tablets specifically designed for children.

TABLETS & CHABLETS

Source: Report from SAS and Verdict called How Britain will shop for Christmas

CHRISTMAS 2012 ✷ CON SUMER BEH AV IOUR ✷

CELEB-BRATE!In 2011, over 20% of shoppers bought ready meals last year in the run up to Christmas – with the number increasing significantly in the week before Christmas compared to the previous four weeks.

Despite time pressures at this time of year and more premium ranges of ready meals available, this trend will potentially stabilise or perhaps drop, given that the nation’s imagination has been captured by home cooking programmes.

Owing to the success of The Great British Bake-Off, supermarkets and department stores have reported sharp rises in baking ingredients and baking materials and accessories.

The combination of multi-channel shopping and heavy discounting will increase competitive pressure. And so it’s absolutely crucial retailers have analytics technology in place to understand increasingly complex customer behaviours to make the right decisions in real-time on product, price, promotion and placement. Having a single customer view across different touch points will mean retailers can forecast and monitor demand more accurately to at least maintain margins.

Click and collect and mobile commerce are going to be key channels for shopping this year, especially for those who are pressed for time over the run up to Christmas.

THIS YEAR BRITONS WILL SPEND

1% MORE THAN IN 2011£86 BILLION

2011 51.6%

2010 28.4%

2013 52.9%

2016 97.1%

2012 78.6%

ONLINE PURCHASES

CLICK & COLLECT & M-COMMERCE