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STAG - February 2011
How was December/Christmas trading? I know it’s now February and Christmas seems a long time ago, but perhaps now is the time to reflect?
The weather certainly had a massive impact on December trading leading up to Christmas in many ways. Many high streets were inaccessible, out of town shopping centres were cut off and deliveries from mail order and online companies incurred massive delays.
Not great for anyone apart from the retailers that managed to open their shops and take advantage of local consumers that were unable to reach stores further afield.
The impact the weather had on people playing sport was also a major factor, as with sporting fixtures delayed or cancelled the need for sporting equipment and accessories was reduced.
Once again, we had a diverse range of comments from STAG members about this period. These ranged from ‘I could not trade at all’ to ‘sales were excellent’.
Generally, we feel that although the weather did not have a positive effect on already tough trading conditions STAG members fared well when compared to some industries.
The adverse weather conditions were not bad for everyone though; for instance Hi-Tec achieved its best December sales for 17 years. It is an instock company that was able to take advantage of huge orders placed for immediate delivery of boots.
As STAG and Freedom members were open to buy in December due to the lack of big forward orders, this certainly paid off. In fact Hi-Tec achieved its highest level of turnover ever with STAG during 2010.
Ricky Chandler
Managing director, STAG
