Retail sales data - Dec 22

I own a small business designing and selling crochet. In December I took £1,864 less than I did the previous year. I believe this is due to people having less money to spend on non-essentials due to the cost of living crisis and the postal and train strikes. January will also probably be a lot worse than last year. Now there’s the issue with international postage to contend with. Parcels are going missing left right and centre. The main challenge for this coming year will be trying to balance the rising cost of supplies and at the same time keep my products affordable.

December 2022 saw a whole new set of challenges for small businesses like ours given the soaring cost of living, an economy teetering on the brink of recession and Royal Mail strikes. There's no doubt that this has knocked consumer confidence. However, gifting was still really important to our customers last month. We found that our customers were prioritising other people rather than making 'self-purchases', which were very popular during the pandemic. 2023 is about surviving and adapting to meet consumer trends. A focus on value for money is more important than ever for customers. We're looking at simplifying the products we offer and making sure we reduce our costs to maximise profit.

From what I’ve observed, small business that are offering an experience-based service are doing great. We had the best December since opening 13 years ago offering pottery painting and personalised gifts. Experiences can’t be done online and if you can give the consumer more for their money than just purchasing something, the attraction is far greater. Consumers seem to be becoming more discerning as to where they spend their money and aware that buying local is more ethical and sustainable. I hope this trend continues as it’s great for independent retailers such as myself and the future of local high streets.

We had a similar number of orders in December as we did the previous year but the value of those orders was much less on average. Ethically made toys and eco gift sets always sell well around Christmas time but I suspect that people just bought less and spent less money per gift due to cost of living rises. Our sales overall were 50% down on the previous year and the postal strikes didn’t help. People stopped shopping online much earlier and we had parcels lost and significantly delayed meaning we had to refund them. All in all, it was a bit of a gruelling end to a very challenging year.