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As we are now into the last month of this dreadful year (thank god!) we may finally have something cheerful to look forward to… Christmas! Only a mere 11 nights sleep away, and here at Niche Office Solutions Ltd, we couldn’t be more excited to welcome some festive cheer into the office.
With this particular Christmas set to be an unusual time of year for us all, we would like to share with you all a few reminders of what Christmas is really about from some of the team here at Niche Office solutions Ltd. In the hopes of bringing some normalcy back to our lives. One thing I have certainly appreciated this year, are the street decorations and lights, perhaps the only consistency I have seen throughout this crazy year.
My personal favourite thing about Christmas is the food, especially the long-established boxing day buffet tradition. Which is taken extremely seriously in my family. Second best must be my warm Christmas pyjamas, accompanied with hot chocolate on the sofa and 10 hours of Christmas films pending.
Here is some of our staff’s comments of their favourite Christmas festivities.
Rick, who is in sales at Niche Office Solutions Ltd, says his favourite thing about Christmas would be the family gatherings. However, does confess he also enjoys a good excuse to drink prosecco in the morning. He is also partial to the evening, with cheese, biscuits, and fine wine.
Jonny, also in sales, mainly enjoys spending time around the table with his family, enjoying delicious food and lots of alcohol!
Steve, our marketing, and IT guy enjoys Christmas dinner the most- a good, warm meal, especially the desert. Spending time with his family and his own Christmas tradition- watching Die Hard, the controversial Christmas movie
For Molly, one of the team’s sales advisors, Christmas is her favourite time of the year, she simply cannot choose her favourite thing as she enjoys so much about it! Although she particularly loves the festive spirit the time of year bring, and spending time with her family. Plus, you cannot go wrong with the delicious Christmas Dinner!
Shania, another of our sales advisors, loves getting into the Christmas spirit with classic movies, streaming cheesy songs all day long.
Forecasts for Consumer Behaviour
One of the main strains of Christmas for the majority, is the pressure of Christmas shopping. The manic of shopping centres in the run up to the busiest time of the year will no doubt not be missed by all. (bar the supermarkets, which are still as busy as usual) At least with the current Covid restrictions, you can still do your Christmas preparation instore, but don’t have to worry about being sandwiched into your favourite high street stores like a tin of sardines, fighting for that last bargain buy from the 3 for 2 section in Boots.
On the other hand, it appears many people won’t be bothering with the hassle of shopping instore at all this year. With a third of all Christmas shopping forecasted to occur online, with shoppers predicted to spend 25.1% more on ecommerce compared to last year.
A recent report carried out by Voucher codes, in partnership with Centre for Retail Research (CRR) provides statistics on consumer shopping habits from the middle of November until the end of December.
The report shows various tables which show actual data from 2019, and the forecasted prediction for 2020. It should be interesting to see how predictably the UK public performs this year!
The first table details how total retail sales over the Christmas period in the UK are expected to rise by 1.6%, from £83.130 billion in 2019, to £84.462 billion this year.
The report then goes on to break down this information into online and offline spending. Offline retail will undoubtedly win over most sales this Christmas period, regardless of the rise in online retail throughout the first three quarters of 2020. However, this does not mean we should disregard the definite overall growth of online shopping caused by the pandemic. Which will certainly have effect for multiple years to come.
The report is definitely a worthwhile read. Depicting quite a thought-provoking analysis of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic activity, regional spending, category spending and the potential impacts of Covid-19, and Brexit on Christmas 2020. You can find the link posted in this blog above if you are interested in exploring it further.
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