UK Seasonal Shopping (Autumn/Winter) Market Report 2021

The UK Seasonal Shopping (Autumn/Winter) report identifies consumer attitudes towards winter shopping, holiday shopping, winter wear market size, gift purchasing, and event spending in the UK. The Market report covers the market size, market forecast, market segmentation and industry trends for the Winter Shopping market and Holiday Shopping market in the UK.  

Current Market Landscape 

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related lockdowns has had a clear impact on all seasonal events, leading to a significant drop in spending levels in the shopping market. Historically all of these events have been store-oriented and lockdowns have forced shoppers to move online. Despite this, it is encouraging to see that purchasing levels have remained resilient for most autumn and winter seasonal events, with households taking the opportunity to spend time with family and friends.

• Back-to-School saw only a 9% decline in spending, being the only seasonal event outside of lockdown.
• Consumer spending on seasonal events during the winter/ autumn months totalled £3 billion in 2020/21.
• Spending for autumn seasonal events reached an estimated £464 million and £556 million in 2020.

Bonfire Night and Halloween held up well in 2020 despite COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings and household mixing. This boost to purchasing for seasonal events has given retailers plenty of scope to capture spend from consumers who want a reason to celebrate and treat family and friends. This report also covers Shopping Market Segmentation in the Winter Shopping Market and Holiday Shopping Market.

Future Market Trends in Breakfast Cereals 

Seasonal events are particularly sensitive to macroeconomic factors. As such, we expect to see consumers holding back on discretionary spending as the impact of the COVID-19 recession lingers on and Brexit adds further uncertainty to levels of consumer confidence.

The sudden push to online purchasing of gifts and products throughout the pandemic has allowed smaller online players to stand out. Personalisation has been a key theme across events and online players are well placed to cater to this. However, consumers enjoy the store experience during these seasonal events and retailers on the high street capitalise on impulse purchasing, while this habit may be more difficult for online players to capture.

Read on to discover more details or take a look at all of our UK Retail market research.

Quickly understand

• Impact of COVID-19 on spending levels for seasonal events.
• Impact of COVID-19 on gift and product buying for seasonal events.
• Seasonal events activities for Halloween, Bonfire Night and Valentine’s Day.
• Behaviours related to seasonal events.

Covered in this report

Seasonal Events: Halloween, Bonfire Night, Valentine’s Day, Back-to-School. (Christmas and Black Friday mainly excluded)

Brands: Clarks, Mars, Gail’s, HelloFresh, Not On The High Street, Moonpig, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Rubie’s, Disney, Interflora, Lush, M&S, Etsy, Sports Direct, Beavertown Brewery, Swizzles, MaskClub.

Expert analysis from a specialist in the field

This report, written by Emily Viberg, a leading analyst in the Retail sector, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.

The pandemic did not deter celebrations for the autumn/winter seasonal events with spending resilient across all events – albeit significantly down on the year before. Uncertainty ahead of a new term eclipsed Back-to-School spending with some parents focusing on supporting remote learning. Despite Halloween trick-or-treating being banned, shoppers found ways to celebrate with confectionery and fancy dress topping the shopping list while Bonfire Night spending held up well as consumers took the opportunity to spend time with family and friends in the household. Valentine’s Day celebrations moved indoors as people found new ways to celebrate the day with loved ones.
Emily Viberg
Retail Analyst