By Dr Charika Channuntapipat and Dr Sarah Montano
University of Birmingham
Consumers have been looking forward to Christmas 2021 after the last minute cancellation of Christmas 2020, where family celebrations were limited to the 23rd to 27th December and the vast majority of England were in Tier 2 or Tier 3. With the arrival of vaccines, consumers were looking forward to Christmas parties and exciting celebrations. However, the arrival of the Omicron variant has started to put a dampener on celebrations, with some starting to cancel office parties etc.
As we emerged from lockdown in April 2021, we saw a return of consumers to the high street, with online sales falling back slightly as consumers enjoyed a return to the high street. Alongside this, this year we have seen a key trend and concern from consumers – that of sustainability. Particularly, with the build up to COP26 and the launch of the Earthshot prize, we have seen consumers become concerned with retail activity and they have been looking for sustainable solutions.
So, what will retail look like this Christmas season? Will we see consumers acting more responsibly and if so, what does this mean for business?
Hybrid responsible consumption
A continuing trend from last year is that consumers are becoming more sustainable but equally, they will not be fully responsible. In fact, research from PwC notes that this year, consumers will be focussed on spending more on gifts to make Christmas extra special and treating ourselves on Black Friday.
We can think about this as hybrid responsible consumption, in which consumers still consume but, at the same time, try to consume in the way that is responsible for themselves. This leads us to argue further that this Christmas will be the Christmas of self-indulgence and self-care as consumers seek to boost their morale and self-esteem after a difficult year. This year beauty advent calendars have been particularly popular as consumers engage in pre-Christmas pampering. Let’s consider the impact of hybrid responsible consumption on fast-fashion retailers and businesses.
Given that this will be the season of self-care and self-indulgence, what does this mean for fast-fashion consumption? Will Primark still be busy with consumers buying their Christmas jumpers or party dresses? Once retail re-opened in April 2021, we saw consumers return to the high street rather than shopping online. The return to the high street indicates that actually consumers do still want to shop cheaply, and not particularly responsibly, as they will still need that new Christmas jumper for the Zoom office party! So, consumers will still shop at fast-fashion retailers to pick up the ‘wear-once’ Christmas jumpers and party outfits.
Not spending less, but spending differently
These observations, and the fact that overall footfall in November 2021 was at 83% of the same level in 2019, are aligned with the PwC report anticipating that consumers will increase their spending as compared to Christmas 2020. This indicates that consumers will not be more responsible by spending less overall, but rather they will spend differently. Given that we anticipate that this Christmas consumers will be self-indulgent, this would mean they will be spending on upgrading everyday items e.g. buying luxury lounge wear or luxury festive candles.
Fundamentally, being responsible and refraining from buying is bad for business. This is where we believe that there will be a key difference from the pre-pandemic Christmas of 2019. Whilst many consumers will spend with familiar brands such as John Lewis and Amazon, many consumers who have switched their behaviour to spending locally during the pandemic will continue to do so. For those consumers who want to buy online, we anticipate that online retailers that facilitate local purchases such as Etsy or Not On The High Street will prove popular this year. Or consumers will want a new Christmas tree but rather than buying an artificial tree they will buy a real tree from their local florist or garden centre.
In conclusion, it is important to balance between your festive happiness (i.e. self-gifting and indulgence) and responsible consumption. This might be a cliché but we would encourage you to think about this 7 Re’s before making any Christmas shopping.
Rethink – Do you really need it? Or are you just buying it because of the festive discount?
Refuse – Say no to festive items that you will use only once!
Reduce – Do not use the ‘festive season’ as a reason to over-consume.
Reuse – Do not throw away festive items that can be reused next year.
Repair – Can you repair things that you already have, and use them instead of buying new ones?
Repurpose – Can you adjust the purpose of possessed items so that you can use them in the coming festive season?
Recycle – If you think about disposing of something, try to find a way to recycle it first.
Thinking about these 7 Re’s might even make your Christmas shopping more enjoyable, and you will also be able to consume more responsibly.
Find out more
Watch Sarah Montano and a panel of international experts discuss whether, in a world of fast fashion, sustainable retail is possible or even desired by consumers.
- More about Dr Sarah Montano at the University of Birmingham
- More about Dr Charika Channuntapipat at the University of Birmingham
- Back to Business School Blog
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Birmingham.