CHRIS GILMOUR: Why do we not have details of SA’s festive season trade?
Christmas trading typically accounts for upwards of 30% of total trading for the year and so is a critically important trading period
It’s been many years since SA retailers published specific Christmas sales figures, and analysts and financial journalists have to make do with broad figures that often encompass six months’ worth of trading that include the December period.
This is really not good enough, as Christmas trading typically accounts for upwards of 30% of total trading for the year and so is a critically important trading period. But in the UK, Kantar Worldpanel, a retail consultancy, publishes Christmas trading updates for all the major UK supermarket chains within a few days of the year-end. This leaves analysts and other observers in a much better position to talk authoritatively about the relative performance of retailers. ..
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