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Retail Insights

Looking Back and Moving Forwards

2020 is over. The year of lockdowns. A year of hard work and last-minute adjustments, masks, sanitisers, screens and deep cleans. Panic buys, lockdowns and tiers all round.

From March until December the nation’s shopkeepers have been at the forefront of a fight to keep everyone stocked in essentials from toilet roll and flour to baked beans and last-minute Christmas Puddings. 2020 has been a tough year for many, though the industry is now deemed essential

Christmas 2020 was unlike any Christmas that went before it. Just as we were assured that we would be able to see our friends and family for a break in the lockdown, a faster spreading variant had the government introduce a new, tier 4 level which sadly caused many to change their Christmas plans. Some families found themselves with turkeys big enough to feed three households but with no one to eat it, while others discovered they needed to do some last-minute grocery shopping because the cupboards were bare!

  • The day with the lowest average sales was January 1st 2020 – the average transaction value on 1st of January was just £6.81 – which, against figures for a more “normal” year of trading, is fairly typical
  • The day with the highest footfall in 2020 was 20th March – just days before the first lockdown was announced
  • The highest Average Transaction Value for of 2020 was £12.08 which was on 24th December – it seems those who changed their plans made a quick visit to their local store
  • The best-selling single item – by units sold in 2020 was 2L semi-skimmed milk
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The New Year sees us back in lockdown and it may be another challenging few months. At The Retail Data Partnership we’ve worked hard to keep on supporting you throughout – our teams continue to offer a full sales and installation service, with installations carried out with due care and full PPE.

Our customer service team, technical support and sales support teams too have been working as usual, despite the lockdowns, supported by our new phone system that allows a seamless transition between calls taken in the office or from a home-working set up. This allows for consistency in the service we offer to support our customers into the New Year and going forwards.

Looking for opportunities in 2021? You could do worse than think about stocking:
  • Alternative smoking/vape products while vape shops are closed
  • Any kinds of games/arts & crafts/modelling – things to do at home in winter!
To help serve your customers during the lockdown and beyond, Basket offers an easy way to get your store online.
Additionally, our MediaMaster Screens are a great opportunity for retailers, pushing up sales on some items as much as 41% in promotions.
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