Retailers throughout the United Kingdom have been struggling over the past few years to maintain sales. There might be hope for big gains during the holiday season, but some economists believe that businesses could instead see revenue losses over the next few weeks.

According to recent research by Netsuite, if retailers fail to capitalize on sales opportunities or do not offer the products and services consumers are looking for, they stand to lose approximately £147 million ($239 million) during the holiday season. Management Today reports that competition is another factor that could result in decreased revenues, with a forecasted total of £1.7 billion ($2.7 billion) being lost to competitors. This loss can come from shoppers taking their business elsewhere from retailers that are out of stock of the most-wanted products.

To combat this revenue decline, many U.K merchants are developing same-day and two-hour delivery services that they plan to offer over the coming year, writes Logistics Manager. While this may not prevent the losses that could occur during this year's holiday season, it will certainly help retailers with their customer retention and satisfaction efforts, which ultimately will boost revenues in 2013.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 at 3:57 am .