The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has released its 2025/26 Christmas FAQs, offering retailers a consolidated view of the issues expected to shape the festive trading period. The briefing brings together recent retail sales trends, early forecasts for Christmas spending, and sector-specific guidance on supply chain resilience, retail crime, food safety, cost-of-living pressures and sustainability expectations. Retail sales trends and evolving festive spending patterns The BRC’s latest FAQs summarise h ...

Retail workers at Bunnings and Kmart are being threatened by customers more than 1000 times a month, with many incidents involving weapons.Parent company Wesfarmers, which also owns Target and Priceline Pharmacy, has revealed the extent of worsening rates of retail crime.Incidents involving threats of serious harm at Bunnings rose by 66 per cent while threatening incidents at Kmart increased 29 per cent, chief executive Rob Scott said. Kmart has increased security at high-risk locations to combat a surge in ...