Online dominated Black Friday, mobile dominated Christmas. We take a look at consumer behaviour and buying patterns to see how this year shaped up in the UK. The two companies that dominated digital, and are seeing huge growth, are heavily focussed on mobile first.

1. Who won Christmas 2016?
UK retail sales trends

2. UK retail sales had a strong
performance over the Christmas
period.
Black Friday, which was launched in
the UK in 2014, drove sales growth in
November at the fastest annual
pace for 14 years.
With some of the Christmas spending
brought forward to November by
Black Friday offers, December started
at a slow pace, increasing fears for
declining sales especially for high
street retailers. However, sales were
boosted by a last-minute Christmas
rush.
November 2016
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
December 2016
Christmas
Busy Christmas period for retailers, with a peak on Black Friday
£34.2
UK retail sales in November were
up 5.9% from the year before. The
amount spent in the retail industry
reached £34.2 billion.
£33.5
Sales rose +4.3% in December
2016 on an annual basis.
+5.9%
YoY
+4.3%
YoY
Source: Office for National Statistics Confidential and copyright of Somo Global Ltd. February 17 2

3. The festive season in 2016 saw a
further decline in High Street sales for
the fourth year in a row. This decline
was only in part mitigated by a
positive final week leading up to
Christmas day, with a double digit
growth in retail sales.
Online continued to grow over the
period, with a strong performance in
November. This is driven by Black
Friday, which has become a massive
online event, as many retailers like
Amazon, Argos and Shop Direct
started their online sales offers up to
10 days before the date.
Sales growth is the tale of two halves
High Street sales fell in December
for the fourth year in a row, down
-0.1% compared to 2015.
Fewer shoppers visited the High
Street during the first three weeks
of December , leading to an
overall footfall decline of nearly
2%.
However, in the week up to
Christmas Day high street sales
rose 11.7% compared with the
same week in 2015.
-0.1%
-2%
+11.7%
December online sales leading
up to Christmas increased by
21.3% on an annual basis.
Online sales were 15.1% of all
retail spending.
Black Friday boosted online
sales in November with 24.9%
growth compared with last year.
Online sales accounted for
15.8% of all retail spending.
In the six weeks before
Christmas, a total of £25bn was
spent online.
+21.3%
+24.9%
£25bn
Bricks and Mortar Online
Source: Financial Times, BBC, Office for National Statistics Confidential and copyright of Somo Global Ltd. February 17 3

4. Black Friday is now the
UK’s biggest online
shopping day in the
festive season, with
online revenue hitting
£901 million.
Peak sales has shifted
consistently towards
Black Friday, with 28%
more online orders
placed than during
the Christmas period.
Over 60% of all
Christmas online
orders were made on
mobile devices, versus
only 51% during Black
Friday.
Tablets sales were down
-3% in December 2016.
This decline was
compensated by
smartphone sales, with a
+47% year-on-year
growth.
£901m +28% 60% -3%
Source: Internet Retailing Source: Mobile Marketing Magazine Source: Mobile Marketing Magazine Source: IMRG and Capgemini
Confidential and copyright of Somo Global Ltd. February 17 4
Black Friday wins online, Christmas wins mobile

5. Singles Day sales
– a Black Friday-style sale day
across Asia – reached $17.8bn
in November 2016.
82% driven from
mobile.
Source: Campaign live

6. Growth by Store Type
YoY, Dec 2016
Source: Office for National Statistics
Confidential and copyright of Somo Global Ltd. February 17 6
Grocery recorded highest
growth in last 3 years
Clothing was the hardest hit
in the High Street
High Street fashion was the hardest hit
+2.0% +3.2% +4.5%
+11.9%
+23.0%
-0.1% Food Stores
Fashion Stores
Non
Specialized
Stores
Non-food
Stores
Other
Stores
Online
Stores
Bricks and Mortar
Bricks and Mortar trends

7. Online top performers are leaders in mobile
2016 was Amazon’s most successful
holiday shopping season. An estimated
38% market share of US online revenue
during the period. Global shipping peak
was on Dec. 19.
Shipped more than 1 billion items
through Amazon Prime and Fulfillment by
Amazon services.
More than 72% of orders came from
mobile devices.
38%
1bn
72%
97m
Shop Direct is the second largest online
retailer in UK. Very.co.uk grew sales by +19%,
while group sales increased +9% YoY.
In 2016 Shop Direct reached 97 million site
visits with over 400,000 new customers, up
16% YoY.
68% of Shop Direct’s online sales are
completed via mobile devices.
+19%
68%
Source: Business Insider Source: Shop Direct

8. Brands who mastered omnichannel
and mobile won Christmas 2016.
Did your business make the most of Christmas 2016?
If you need help making the most of festive season, you can contact us at: marketing@somoglobal.com