Confidence among consumers was one of the main reasons why retail insurance holders saw positive sales over the Christmas period, according to one expert.
Richard Perks, director of retail at Mintel, said that many people had spare cash before the festive period and decided to spend it in stores, which was great news for retail insurance customers.
His comments came after Next issued statistics showing that sales for the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve were up 4.6 per cent in its stores, with like-for-like direct sales up 3.2 per cent and Next Directory seeing a 6.8 per cent increase.
However, he stated that retail insurance holders may have mixed fortunes in the coming weeks, largely because the harsh weather conditions have prevented many people from going shopping during the traditionally busy sales period.
"Quite a lot of the boost to December was a pre-VAT boom, business brought forward from this year. So that means sales lost from January and February this year," Mr Perks said.
