UK retailers should avoid 'blanket promotions' this Christmas

After the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping frenzies swept across the nation, discounts and promotional offers have continued to hit UK retailers.

The ongoing sales competition is dragging pre-Boxing sales forward and could start as early as Sunday, 21 December, according to the latest data compiled by online aggregated fashion and beauty service SalesGossip, but there are a number of retailers who are actively working to protect profits.

UK retailers who offer flash sales are "competing without killing their profits"

“Following Black Friday, we've seen a lot of retailers running pre-Christmas promotions. Understandably, many of them are doing so to respond to promotions from their direct competitors,” commented Elizabetta Camilleri, CEO and co-founder of SalesGossip.

UK retailers, such as John Lewis, Debenhams and Shop Direct, all tapped into Black Friday to create momentum in the run up to Christmas and win over early holiday shoppers. During this time SalesGossip noted a 137 percent increase in the number of retailers featuring Black Friday offers compared to the same period last year.

Following Black Friday, SalesGossip reported a 48 percent in the subsequent pre-Christmas promotions, which highlights the competitiveness in the retail market.

However, SalesGossip has witnessed a small selection of retailers offering more engaging campaigns to increase pre-Christmas sales, rather than relying on blanket promotions and predicts that these engaging campaigns will be more successful than blanket promotions.

UK retailers including Burton, The White Company, Claire’s, Topman, BCBGMaxazria, River Island, French Sole and Elias and Grace, have been offering different deals every day or discounts on specific product categories for one or two days only in the run up to Christmas, with many of them have also featuring advent-style calendars or the 12 days of Christmas as a promotional theme for their sales.

“For me, retailers who are using flash sales and discounts on specific product categories to pique shopper interest and maximise returning traffic and footfall are incredibly smart – they're competing without killing their profits,” added Camilleri. By offering a wide variety of deals and offers, UK retailers have the added advantage of being appealing to a wider range of consumers, which will help protect their profits this Christmas.