Retail sales this December are expected to rise 4% year-on-year to £42.4bn – more than £1.5bn than last year. 

With Black Friday imminent (28 November), analysis by Deloitte also predicted that online sales would account for 13% of all sales and 50% of market growth.

Click-and-collect is also expected to account for 45% of all online transactions – almost double the level of December 2013 – with £2.5bn worth of sales. Ian Geddes, head of retail at Deloitte, said digital would influence 40% of physical shop sales.

“Growth in the influence of digital on physical retail has been driven by consumers’ desire to access information on products and services, compare prices and increasingly pay and transact via digital services,” he said.

“As investment in in-store digital technologies increases, such as mobile payments to facilitate faster, more convenient transactions and beacon technology to track shoppers in-store and deliver personalised messages and promotions, so will the digital influence on the physical environment.”

Geddes said increases in sales in click-and-collect would depend on retailers adapting to customers’ changing shopping behaviour, such as adapting their supply chain and warehousing.

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