Retailing In The New Environment Resolutions For 2009

We may see total UK retail sales decline this calendar year for the first time in a generation. With Christmas 2008 likely to be the toughest on record, now is the time to make your New Year's resolutions stick.

As we said in our annual Christmas Retail Survey, 2008 ended with an intensely competitive trading environment for UK retail – although the best retailers and those in the grocery and online sectors outperformed a depressed market.

In 2009, retailers are faced with all the usual challenges but in an even tougher environment where survival is less than certain. UK retailers may countenance overall negative retail sales growth for the first time in twenty years. Although we believe grocers' sales growth will be positive, many other retail sub-sectors will face the prospect of significant, possibly double digit, negative sales growth.