44% of UK shoppers say that product availability is the most important factor in purchasing Christmas products this year, with price (43%) and convenience (36%) following closely behind (Google Data/ Kantar, 2020). However, customers are cautious, balancing these new seasonal needs with a renewed sense of safety, sparked by a second lockdown.
As non-essential retail reopens in England this week, brands are focusing on adapting their retail offering, extending opening hours to offer maximum convenience. The key aim is to allow the flow of customers over longer periods to keep everyone safe during the holidays and make up for lost trading time.
Supermarket Tesco will introduce 24/7 opening hours in more than 300 stores from December 14th to Christmas Eve.
Lifestyle brand Primark plans to extend the opening hours of all its stores in England during the Christmas period. 11 stores have also been selected to be open for 24 hours on December 2nd until normal closing time on December 3rd.
Selfridges is launching its first ever open-air Christmas market to coincide with the reopening of its Oxford Street flagship. Customers can conveniently access fresh food and drink, plants, homeware and festive gifts, without having to step foot inside the store.
Retail
Primark will introduce 24-hour open hours in 11 UK stores
Tesco will introduce 24-hour open hours in over 300 UK stores
Selfridges will open an outdoor market behind its Oxford Street flagship
Arcadia Group enters administration
Hospitality
Hotel group Accor is merging with Hoxton Hotels owners, Ennismore, to launch new lifestyle brand
Luxury Hong Kong-based hotel group Peninsula Hotels will remove check-in and check-out times to give guests more flexibility
Campaigns
UK supermarkets join forces to take a stand on racism
Patagonia and Allbirds were amongst brands campaigning against Black Friday
Initiatives
US supermarkets are partnering with the US Department of Health and Human Services to administer free COVID-19 vaccines
US supermarket Kroger expands partnership with UK online delivery company Ocado
UK beauty and wellness brand Superdrug launches new mental health app
Household News
We’re beyond proud to announce that our brand experience creative idea, the ‘Little Reset Brewing Co.’ is amongst the brilliant winners of The Great Reset – a creative industry movement led by the Purpose Disruptors to embed the positive environmental shifts that have happened during lockdown.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
