Smartphones ring in Christmas revenue
Billions of pounds of Christmas buys will be made via or influenced by smartphones,
Around £3.5 billion Christmas buys will be made via or influenced by smartphones, research has suggested.
In its latest survey, Deloitte said more and more people will be using their smartphones to research prices and store Christmas shopping lists as well as make payments for presents.
The business advisory company said that around £3.2 billion of in-store Christmas sales would be influenced by smartphones, with another £330 million of sales made directly through the devices. A further £500 million in sales is predicted to be made through tablets.
And the good news continued with the firm also forecasting another strong year for online retail with sales increasing this Christmas by 17 percent with total UK retail sales edging up by one percent.
Ian Geddes, UK head of retail at Deloitte, said consumer confidence had gradually improved over the course of 2012 and despite the recent increase in inflation, it was much lower than it was 12 months ago easing the pressure on households.
Although he pointed out that it was not certain whether this would “translate into higher spending, with consumers continuing to show a desire to save”, he said he believed it would be enough to generate modest growth.
Colin Jeffrey, head of multichannel retail at Deloitte, added that it would be a “click-and-collect Christmas” with retailers who have invested in this service in line to do well from this.
He added social commerce was becoming more popular with more and more people using Twitter and Facebook to share reviews, offers and product information.
“Retailers are also starting to use social media as a forecasting tool, monitoring buzz around certain products to predict demand,” he said.