Shoppers may be preparing for the festive season earlier than ever – and in some cases from September, with mince pies already gracing supermarket shelves to meet anticipated demands. But while retailers are looking to get ahead of consumer behavior, the trading environment remains fraught.
Layer in persistent inflation, rising employment costs, and fragile consumer confidence, and the countdown to Christmas is looking especially complex. For retailers, success this golden quarter will depend on how effectively they balance stock, costs and customer expectations in one of the toughest seasonal landscapes in years, writes Ed Bradley, Chief Growth Officer, Virtualstock powered by Logicbroker.
Overstocked and underprepared
Every year, retailers fall into the same cycle: over or underordering stock. An “alarming” drop in UK consumer confidence over the last year has made retail forecasts for the festive period increasingly difficult to predict. Too much inventory ties up cash, inflates storage costs, and risks discounting stock into the red. Too little, and retailers lose competitiveness, frustrate customers and miss critical sales windows.
Avoiding these pitfalls requires more than just sharper forecasting. Stronger supplier engagement helps ensure stock is available when it’s needed – and only then – while flexible delivery models, such as dropshipping and marketplace fulfilment, allow retailers to extend product choice without tying up cash in excess stock. For wholesalers and suppliers, these approaches can reduce costly last-minute order surges, provide greater visibility into sales patterns, and create more predictable demand cycles – benefits that lead to healthier partnerships and fewer operational surprises.
And together, these strategies can help retailers maximise profitability and avoid the scramble of empty shelves or overstuffed warehouses during the festive season.
Breaking the chaos cycle
When trading gets tough, retailer-supplier relationships are put under a microscope. Trust, transparency and accountability are no longer nice-to-haves; they’re non-negotiable. Retailers need to provide realistic forecasts, while suppliers must uphold service level agreements (SLAs) across stock quality, delivery deadlines and tracking transparency.
Aligning expectations early is vital. Launch delays, overwhelmed customer service teams and soaring returns are often symptoms of unclear standards. Today’s shoppers move between channels without a second thought, and they expect consistent experiences everywhere. That means retailers and suppliers must co-own the collaboration: investing in joint planning, seamless data sharing and real-time visibility to avoid stockouts and missed deliveries.
Technology is the glue that holds this together. Multi-vendor management platforms act as a central hub for communication and decision-making between retailers and suppliers, enabling both sides to work in sync and respond proactively to demand. For wholesale managers, this creates clearer insight into retailer needs, smoother onboarding, and a more collaborative way of working that strengthens long-term partnerships.
Retail’s North Star: the curated marketplace model
As consumers increasingly move away from brand-specific websites in favour of multibrand retail channels, retailers must rethink how they approach and enhance their omnichannel strategies to deliver broader product ranges. Increasingly, many renowned retailers are turning to the curated marketplace model: a unified approach that brings together dropshipping, marketplaces, and traditional in-stock retail into a single, brand-led ecosystem.
This model combines the expansive reach of online marketplaces with the precision and quality of brand-driven retail. The benefits are game-changing. Retailers can extend their product range in a way that feels intentional and cohesive, giving customers greater choice without diluting quality or consistency. By incorporating flexible fulfilment methods via dropshipping, retailers can expand quickly without tying up capital in excess stock. The curated layer is what makes this different: retailers stay firmly in control of standards, compliance, and the overall customer journey – ensuring scale doesn’t come at the expense of brand integrity.
Ultimately, the curated marketplace model offers retailers a lower-risk path to growth – combining greater product choice with the consistency and control needed to stand out in a crowded festive market.
Tech behind the tinsel
For retailers under pressure, the right technology is no longer optional, it’s essential – especially for retailers looking to unlock the sophistication of the curated marketplace model. Range extension platforms are central to this. Retailers must carefully choose a platform with the ability to quickly and seamlessly onboard suppliers – no matter the size or IT capability. This reduces the need for costly digital transformation efforts, accelerates time-to-market, and lowers operational costs.
Ideally, range extension providers will also come with AI-powered tools used to transform fulfilment. AI influenced 20% of Cyber Week orders this year, helping customers find deals and personalise their shopping experience.
By factoring in variables such as traffic, courier performance and weather, solutions optimise delivery accuracy for retailers to provide customers with precise delivery windows, instead of vague all-day estimates. The result is improved customer satisfaction thanks to fewer failed deliveries and a better shopping journey during festive peaks.
Cybersecurity, meanwhile, has become a frontline concern within retail. Hackers are now notorious for targeting retail network infrastructures, with cyber-attacks costing UK retailers an estimated £44 billion over the last five years. Partnering with providers that prioritise security and compliance is essential for protecting safeguarding retailers and suppliers against evolving threats.
Finally, advanced analytics and reporting capabilities give retailers real-time visibility into inventory, supplier performance and sales trends. These insights support smarter decision-making, strengthen supplier collaboration, and reduce stockouts and overselling. In practice, this means better On Time in Full (OTIF) rates and fewer “where’s my order?” calls to customer service teams. With the right mix of platforms and intelligence, retailers can streamline complex operations, scale to meet demand, and deliver seamless customer experiences.
From Festive Readiness to Future Growth
The golden quarter will always test retailers’ strengths and limits – but this year’s pressures of costs, confidence, and competition raise the stakes higher than ever. Success won’t come from one lever alone. It will depend on striking the right balance across stock management, building resilient supplier partnerships, and adopting models and technologies that give both scale and control.
Retailers that embrace this joined-up approach are best placed to navigate today’s challenges and create the kind of seamless, reliable experiences that keep customers loyal well beyond the festive season. Far from just surviving, they have an opportunity to set a stronger, smarter foundation for growth in 2026.
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