Q2 doesn’t usually get the fanfare of Q4, yet it consistently delivers some of the most meaningful and emotionally charged retail moments of the year. From Easter through to Father’s Day, this period brings a blend of gifting, seasonal resets, and renewed consumer optimism. But in 2026, that optimism is fragile - shaped by economic uncertainty, heightened price sensitivity, geopolitical matters, and a retail landscape that demands continuous operational excellence to compete.
For retailers and brands, Q2 represents both a challenge and an opportunity. And for those supported by an end‑to‑end retail partner, the opportunity is even greater.
The Q2 Consumer: Selective, Cautious, Intent-Led
Thanks to the lack of promotional frenzy that is commonly experienced in Q4, Q2 shoppers buy more intentionally.Seasonal occasions such as Mother’s Day continue to drive participation. Last year, spending for Mother's Day 2025 hit an estimated £1,673 million, up 5.3% year-on-year. Despite this, spending remains deliberate, with 41% of shoppers budgeting under £20 for gifts. This reflects a broader shift toward selective purchasing and value-led decision making.
Emotional gifting peaks around Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, where shoppers prioritise meaningful products and personalisation. Barclays consumer spend data highlights this tension clearly: while 46% of consumers say they are cutting back on non-essential spending, one in five (20%) are still willing to prioritise spending on memorable occasions and celebrations. This dynamic played out over the Mother’s Day weekend, which delivered a notable retail uplift. High street retail transactions rose 40.1% versus the 2025 daily average, restaurants saw transactions increase 37.9%, and florists experienced a 553% surge in purchases on the Friday before Mother’s Day.
Seasonally, Easter and spring trigger a broader wave of “reset behaviour.” Many consumers use this period to refresh their homes, wardrobes and social routines as the weather improves. Kantar data shows strong seasonal demand in categories such as outdoor living (+24%) and gardening (+51%), while broader retail sales typically strengthen in spring as consumers prepare homes and lifestyles for the warmer months.
Easter alone generated £9.2 billion in UK grocery sales, up 4.9% year-on-year, demonstrating the continued scale of seasonal spending moments. However, this growth was largely price-led, with volumes increasing by just 1.3%, showing that shoppers are spending more per item but purchasing more selectively.
Despite this caution, the desire to celebrate remains strong. Shoppers spent £109 million on Easter confectionery in the final week alone, while promotions accounted for nearly 30% of grocery spending during the Easter period, as retailers worked to maintain value perceptions.
Kantar notes that retailers who captured the most Easter share were those that activated earlier in the season and aligned promotions and product mix with evolving shopper behaviour.
Yet despite these clear demand signals, many brands still treat Q2 as a transition period between peak retail seasons. The result is often late campaign activations, fragmented stock availability, weak product bundling and generic gifting messaging, leaving retailers under-leveraged during a period when consumers are actively looking to refresh all areas of their lives.
The Economic Underpinning: Why Q2 2026 Feels Different
Economic reality will shape consumer behaviour in Q2 more than in previous years. Our Retail Economic Outlook March 2026 (Acosta Europe) provides essential context:
This combination of weak consumer confidence, elevated cost pressures, and persistent price sensitivity means brands face a Q2 where intention to purchase exists, but barriers to conversion are higher than ever.
Retail & Brand Pain Points in Q2 2026:
1. Under‑forecasting Demand in Short Planning Cycles
Q2 events like Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day have short lead times and peak on specific dates. Consumers shop last‑minute, expecting fast, frictionless fulfilment and strong availability. Brands frequently under-forecast demand and activate campaigns too late, a costly mistake.
CommerceIQ data reinforces this, showing inventory instability and out‑of‑stock–related revenue losses rising 3.8% YoY. [commerceiq.ai]
2. Intensifying Price Sensitivity & Own-Label Appeal
Rising food inflation, especially in seasonal categories like chocolate and confectionery for Easter, is reshaping spending. Consumers are trading down or switching to private-label alternatives.
Last year, Chocolate confectionery prices rose 17.4%, the fastest in any category, yet volume still grew 0.4%, indicating shoppers were willing to pay more for seasonal products despite cost pressures.
Despite this, Kantar reports premium own‑label growth of ~23.2% in recent weeks around Easter as shoppers balanced value and quality, a powerful proof point for private label appeal in Q2.
Implication for Q2: Easter confectionery, Mother's Day giftables, and spring home/lifestyle products are highly sensitive to price and promotions — brands must balance value perception with premium appeal.
3. Rising Costs & Margin Pressure
Global disruptions continue to impact margins, particularly transport, logistics, energy, and commodity costs, which are amplified in Q2 by seasonal spikes in product demand (e.g., chocolate, flowers, fresh produce).
Implication for Q2: Seasonal peaks intensify margin pressure — especially when consumers expect value promotions without sacrificing availability.
4. Fragmented Inventory & Weak Omnichannel Execution
Q2 campaigns often suffer from stock fragmentation and inconsistent bundling, particularly for gift packs, Easter baskets, and themed seasonal products.
Implication for Q2: Brands that fail to unify online and in-store availability risk losing out on peak-season purchases, when consumers are actively seeking convenience and curated offers.
Q2 Themes Retailers Must Lean Into
1. Value Reset
Consumers define value differently, sometimes through price, sometimes through quality, convenience, or emotional resonance. Q2’s emotional gifting moments demand thoughtful, frictionless, and personalised solutions.
2. Convenience as a Dealbreaker
Shoppers default to convenience when timelines are short. Speed, clarity, and visibility matter more than promotions.
3. Inspiration Over Discounting
Spring resets are driven by newness and curation, not blanket promotions.
4. Digital Shelf Battles Intensify
Brands with consistent availability and accurate on-shelf placement outperform peers, with out-of-stock situations directly contributing to a 3.8% YoY revenue loss. Success in Q2 depends on ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time, with clear pricing, robust stock levels, and strategic merchandising. During Q2 seasonal peaks like Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, fulfilment reliability, both in-store and online, is critical, as consumers increasingly expect fast, frictionless access to seasonal favourites. Brands that combine robust inventory, clear merchandising, and dependable delivery capture more sales, even under short planning cycles and high price sensitivity.
How we can help you solve Q2’s Challenges:
Field Marketing & Rapid Activation
This ensures brands don’t miss short Q2 windows and drive visibility exactly when intent peaks.
Product & Supply Chain
These capabilities offset economic pressures like rising fuel costs and imported goods inflation.
Ecommerce & Digital Shelf Excellence
Essential when digital-first shoppers trade down, compare constantly, and demand convenience.
E-Fulfilment & Last‑Mile Operations
Critical in a Q2 environment where shortened planning windows can make or break revenue.
Q2 May Be Quieter, but It’s Where Growth Is Won
Q2 2026 presents a unique blend of:
For brands and retailers, this is not a period to under-resource, it’s a period to execute with precision.
With the right end-to-end retail partner, Q2 becomes a growth accelerator, not a missed opportunity. By combining rapid field activation, seamless omnichannel execution, robust supply capabilities, and intelligent fulfilment, retailers and brands can not only navigate uncertainty, they can outperform it.
Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
Ecommerce and Efulfillment continues to rapidly accelerate, fuelled by shifting shopping habits, the rise of social commerce, and higher consumer expectations than ever before. Today, consumers are chronically online. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube now act as powerful discovery hubs, keeping consumers constantly connected to a stream of products and enabling seamless, in the moment purchases.
In December 2025, internet sales accounted for 29.3% of all retail sales in Great Britain, a figure that underlines just how embedded online shopping has become in everyday life. Today’s consumers expect every interaction to be fast, intuitive, and tailored to them, with little tolerance for friction or delay. This shift is driving brands to rethink not only how they sell, but how they fulfil, accelerating the adoption of AI-driven personalisation, mobile-first commerce, and smarter, more responsive fulfilment models.
To understand what this means for brands and fulfilment operations, we spoke with Joe Peers, Head of Ecommerce at Dee Set, about how the e‑fulfilment landscape is evolving, why traditional warehouses struggle, and how brands can scale confidently in 2026.
Q1. E-commerce keeps growing every year, but what’s really driving that change now?
Joe Peers: If you look at how people shop today compared to even a few years ago, the shift is huge. What used to be fairly straightforward, main marketplaces, retailer websites, and the occasional D2C brand, has exploded into a whole ecosystem of places where customers discover and buy products. A big driver of that growth is simply that consumers are spending more of their day inside social platforms. One study noted that around 70% of shoppers expect to buy primarily through social channels by 2030 (DHL E-Commerce Trends, 2025). This says a lot about how habits have changed. People no longer see shopping as a separate activity. It blends into the same space where they watch videos, talk to friends, and share content. And because of this, buying has become more spontaneous and far more integrated into daily life.
Another factor is how easy and enjoyable online shopping has become. Social commerce, in particular, has removed lots of friction. Instead of searching through product lists, customers stumble upon something in a creator video or a short clip and can buy it instantly. It’s an experience that feels natural rather than transactional, and it’s taken the idea of “online shopping” from a planned action to an almost instinctive response. The more seamless that journey becomes, the more customers choose it, and that’s part of the reason the industry has seen such consistent growth.
Q2. Social commerce feels like it’s everywhere. How has it changed the competitive landscape for brands?
Joe Peers: Social commerce has completely rewritten the rules for how brands compete. TikTok Shop is a prime example of this shift. Instead of relying on customers to search for a product, the platform pushes products directly into moments of inspiration. A creator showcases something, someone comments about it, and before you know it, the product is in a viewer’s checkout flow. One recent report highlighted that TikTok Shop’s GMV more than doubled in the first half of 2025 (FastMoss 2025 Report), which really illustrates just how fast this new form of commerce is scaling.
For brands, this means competition isn’t just about having the best keywords or the most reviews anymore. It’s about being present in the right moment, when the customer is entertained, relaxed, and open to discovering something new. However, this also makes forecasting demand much harder. A product that barely moved last week can go viral overnight, and a warehouse that was comfortably coping with order volume can suddenly find itself trying to pick and pack thousands more units than expected.
Q3. Why do traditional warehouses struggle to keep up with this new world of online fulfilment?
Joe Peers: Traditional warehouses were built with a completely different purpose in mind. They were designed for predictable volumes, large shipments, and long lead times. Modern e‑commerce has none of that predictability. Instead of sending a full pallet of stock to a retailer, operations now revolve around thousands of individual parcels going to thousands of individual customers, each with their own address, preferences, and expectations. And customers today are unforgiving. Late deliveries or incorrect orders very quickly push them away, which means accuracy and speed matter more than ever.
There’s also the challenge of how stock is arranged. To meet faster delivery expectations, brands often need to split stock across different parts of a warehouse or multiple smaller sites. This creates a web of internal movement, tracking complexity, and potential points of failure. Many legacy operational systems simply weren’t designed to handle that level of granularity. Without modern fulfilment technology, the whole process becomes difficult to scale, inaccurate, and costly.
And then you have the cost pressures. The last mile is now the most expensive part of the fulfilment journey, representing over half of total shipping cost in some cases (Last Mile Delivery Statistics 2025). If a warehouse doesn’t have the systems to optimise routing, carrier selection, and delivery promises, costs can escalate quickly, and customer satisfaction takes a hit.
Q4. With all that in mind, why are more brands outsourcing their fulfilment?
Joe Peers: The biggest reason is that fulfilment has become too complex and too critical for many brands to handle alone. It used to be about cost-saving, but now it’s about enabling growth. Brands are expanding into more online channels, launching on more marketplaces, experimenting with social commerce, and trying to offer faster delivery options. That requires investment in people, technology, and processes, and for many businesses, that investment doesn’t make sense to take on internally.
A specialist fulfilment partner already has the systems, the labour model, the warehouse setup, and the carrier relationships in place. They’re built for e‑commerce. They know how to adapt quickly when volume jumps, how to get parcels out accurately and on time, and how to keep costs under control even when expectations rise. When brands outsource, they gain stability. They hand over the stress of peak periods, the need to recruit and train staff, and the constant pressure to update technology. It means their internal teams can spend more time focusing on growth, product development, and brand building.
Q5. What do you mean by “scalability without operational risk”? What does that look like?
Joe Peers: It’s the idea that a brand should be able to grow without worrying that its operation might break under pressure. Traditionally, if a brand wanted to increase its online sales, it had to expand its warehouse team, add shifts, find more storage, or even take on new sites. Every one of those steps adds cost and risk. If the sales don’t materialise, the brand is left with the overhead. If they do materialise but fulfilment fails, the brand suffers reputational damage.
A strong fulfilment partner removes those risks. They already have scalable teams who can flex up or down, they already have the space and systems to handle volume increases, and they can move quickly when demand spikes unexpectedly, say if a product suddenly goes viral on TikTok. Outsourcing gives brands access to that agility without tying themselves to long‑term fixed costs, which is incredibly valuable in a world where demand can change in an instant.
Q6. Why is the digital shelf becoming such an important priority heading into 2026?
Joe Peers: The digital shelf has become the first impression for almost every shopper. Even when someone intends to buy in store, they usually look online first. They compare images, read reviews, check availability, and make snap judgments about quality. A well‑optimised digital shelf boosts visibility, while a poorly maintained one loses sales before the brand even realises.
We’re seeing a lot of brands invest in stronger product content—better images, clearer descriptions, improved SEO, and cleaner variations. Small changes can have a big impact, because customers don’t want to dig around for information anymore. They expect answers instantly. And with different platforms using their own algorithms to decide which products to show first, staying on top of the digital shelf has become a competitive necessity rather than a nice‑to‑have.
Q7. What should brands be doing differently when it comes to content, availability, and pricing?
Joe Peers: The simplest way to think about it is that online customers move quickly. If a product page doesn’t tell them what they need within a few seconds, they move on. Brands should focus on clarity, concise descriptions, strong imagery, and information that matches how customers search. They should also keep stock availability tight because being out of stock not only loses immediate sales but can damage search ranking and visibility.
Pricing also plays a bigger role than ever. Customers see prices across multiple platforms instantly, and social commerce often encourages impulse purchases through creator recommendations and short‑term offers. Brands need to be thoughtful about how they price across channels, making sure they stay competitive without eroding margins.
Q8. And finally, how does Dee Set bring all of this together for brands?
Joe Peers: At Dee Set, we’ve built an approach that connects the entire online journey—from how products appear on the digital shelf to how they’re picked, packed, and delivered. We combine fulfilment capabilities designed specifically for e‑commerce with data insights that help brands plan ahead, understand demand shifts, and prepare for key trading periods.
We also invest in digital shelf optimisation so that when potential shoppers land on a product page, they see the best possible version of that brand. By bringing digital performance and physical operations together, we give brands one accountable partner who can support growth without adding complexity. The goal is simple: help brands scale confidently, without the tech costs, staffing pressures, or operational risks that often slow them down.
The world of e‑commerce is fast-moving, unpredictable, and more competitive than ever. Social commerce is driving spontaneous purchases, customers demand speed and accuracy, and the digital shelf has become the first, and sometimes only chance to make a lasting impression. Brands that want to scale successfully need more than just ambition, they need a partner that can handle the complexity of fulfilment, optimise digital presence, and respond to demand in real time.
At Dee Set, strengthened by the comprehensive and integrated services of Acosta Europe, we make it stress-free, from planning to fulfilment, helping you convert passionate fans into returning customers. Whether you’re expanding into new channels, launching on social commerce, or aiming for flawless delivery every time, we give your brand the confidence to grow without the operational headaches.
Start scaling smarter today with Dee Set. Get in touch.
Learn more about this service on our website: ECommerce Fulfilment Services | Fill Orders With Ease | Dee Set
For more information, you can reach out to Joe Peers directly:
Maximising your field marketing ROI (return on investment) is incredibly important for any modern business. Of course, you’ll want to track your field marketing strategy to ensure it remains effective, and your return on investment is a key way to measure its success.
Once you've decided on a new strategy, you should analyse the data so that you can improve your field marketing efforts as your campaign progresses. After you’ve examined your performance, you can use the actionable insights gained to make important changes to your future campaigns.
At Dee Set, we’re a leading retail and field marketing company based in the UK. Our expert team revolutionises the world of business with our advanced marketing solutions. In this article, we'll run through some of the most effective ways you can maximise your field marketing ROI, before putting them into action.
Ready to amplify your performance? Get in touch with a member of our field marketing team today.
First things first, you need to understand what ROI is.
ROI is a performance marker that refers to the efficiency and profitability of an investment. The return (or profit) is measured directly against the cost of the investment. To be profitable, the return should be greater than the investment - the greater the profit, the more successful the investment.
Technically, an investment can be anything within the world of business, including your field marketing campaigns. In these situations, you ideally want your campaigns to bring in more custom than they cost to instigate.
Eager for results? Get in touch with our expert team and we’ll get the ball rolling.
As any good business knows, measuring the performance of your marketing campaigns is imperative to your success. It's important to have dedicated processes built into your brand, so that you can work out a true marketing ROI for your individual campaigns.
Not only can this data help you to improve traffic and conversions, but it can also be utilised when improving your field marketing campaigns further down the line.
Let's have a look at some of the key tactics that you can use to improve your ROI in the field.
Your customers are your bread and butter. Exploring the customer journey is crucial when implementing a new field marketing strategy, and it can also be used to effectively maximise your ROI. You want to create a rewarding and impactful customer shopping experience, as this will lead to increased customer loyalty and retainment.
So, how can you improve the shopping experience for your customers?
Two words: Product interaction.
You can add value to the customer experience by enabling consumers to try your products out in real time. Allowing people to test your products lets them see how they work, as well as showing the benefits your items have when compared to your competitors.
This factor can be seen in statistics from The Product Sampling Study, conducted by Arbitron and Edison Media. The results of this study show that 35% of people who try your products in person are likely to purchase them on the same day, making product interaction extremely lucrative.
Product sampling gives you the tools to directly appeal to people’s senses, enabling them to touch, taste and see your items in real time. When combined with our eye-catching visual merchandising techniques, you will be onto a winner. Our merchandising team can help you to really set your brand apart, by refining your in-store presence to draw the attention of potential customers towards your products.
As well as increasing your overall engagement, reach and sales, product sampling can also help you to improve your ROI and dwell times, keeping people in-store longer as a result.
Another important aspect of the customer experience is the customer journey. By analysing the pathway your customers use when buying your products, you can take steps to improve the experience.
The customer journey is the sales pipeline that potential customers encounter when purchasing from your business - from the first enquiry right through to the point of sale. Mapping this journey out before committing to a new strategy is key to the success of your business. This will help you to understand the process your customers face when purchasing your products, identifying any hurdles that crop up.
Once you’ve assessed the customer journey, you can enhance and upgrade the pipeline, creating a smoother customer experience and increasing loyalty. The aim is to make the journey easier - not only will this increase customer retention, but it will also give your profitability and ROI a boost.
At Dee Set, we can manage the entire customer journey for you, using our dedicated image recognition tech to judge how accessible your items are for your customers. We utilise the latest EPOS data to provide a greater understanding of how your items are performing in-store, via the use of various touch points within your space.
Understanding your customer's needs, purchasing behaviours, and demographics allows you to make impactful strategic decisions, setting your business up for the ultimate win.
Want to find out more about our cutting-edge image recognition tech? Contact our helpful team here.
When conducting a new field marketing campaign, one of the most important aspects to consider is your promotional efforts. After all, if your customer base isn’t aware that your products exist, how can they be expected to make a purchase?
Attracting the right audience is the first step towards increasing your sales and ROI - once you’ve got your customers through the door, you also need to ensure they purchase your products once inside.
Physical stores offer a unique experience that online retailers are unable to match, enabling you to utilise your in-store promotional displays and FSDUs (free standing display units) efficiently to attract the right people. If you employ your displays correctly, you can create a seamless shopping experience for visitors, guiding them through your store on an effective customer journey.
But which offers should you integrate into your store?
The answer to that question largely depends on the store itself and the products you sell. However, some of the more popular promotional ideas on offer include:
Your FSDUs can be effectively utilised to show off your in-store promotions, so it’s important to implement clear instructions within your field marketing strategy to reflect this. Approximately 80% of everything we learn is captured through the eye, so it’s crucial that you make your displays as eye-catching as possible. Adding bold colours, signs and product tags will draw the eye, making your items appear more attractive to your customers.
It’s a clear fact that FSDUs work, allowing your brand to be seen through all the other in-store noise. However, they require extra floor space, which can drive your costs up. This factor means that it’s incredibly important to get your FSDU promotions right, so you’re not wasting money that could be spent elsewhere.
This is where Dee Set comes in. We can help you to integrate your new promotions into your store, monitoring their success once implemented. Once we’ve got the data, we can accurately use this information to inform your future strategies, allowing you to capitalise on your ROI.
With Dee Set’s innovative image recognition software, you can accurately monitor your promotional campaigns, utilising the information gained to improve your future field marketing strategies. Once we’ve run the data, you can weigh up the costs of your promotional efforts, enabling you to allocate funds towards the areas that need them the most. Not only will monitoring your in-store promotions allow you to create better strategies in the future, but it will also allow you to measure your ROI effectively.
Before implementing a new field marketing strategy, it's important to work out exactly who your audience is. Your demographics may shift depending on the product you’re pushing and the campaign you’re utilising, so understanding your audience is a necessity.
You may already have an idea of who your target market is, but conducting pre-campaign research will ensure your strategy is a success. Armed with this data, you can then tailor your field marketing efforts towards your key demographics. There's no point in pushing products to people that aren't interested, which is where targeting comes in.
Researching your audience accurately will amplify your traffic and conversions, fueling the customer experience by guiding consumers towards more suitable products/services. You need to really understand your audience’s behaviour, allowing you to tailor the in-store experience to their wants and needs.
Ask yourself the following questions:
By researching and measuring actionable data based around customer behaviour, you can gain impactful answers to these questions. At Dee Set, we use our informative Reapp solution to accurately eliminate the guesswork, giving you razor-sharp insights into your target audience.
Data analytics can be utilised effectively to identify your most loyal clients, enabling you to target your promotional activities to your target demographics.
The benefits don't stop there though. You can ensure that your future campaigns don't go to waste, as you'll be directly targeting people that actually want to buy your products and engage with your brand. This makes the risk of unsuccessful campaigns much lower, ensuring money isn't wasted on pointless exercises.
In the modern age, data analytics has become an indispensable asset for any business. Marketing analytics tools are the golden ticket to success and should be implemented into every field marketing campaign you run. As well as creating the perfect strategy, your marketing metrics can also be used to provide in-depth insights during your campaign.
By tracking a range of actionable metrics, you can find out what works and what doesn't, using this data to improve your future marketing efforts. Setting clear business goals is a must in this area - without a defined set of marketing goals, you have nothing to compare your metrics against.
You can use data analytics to track your brand awareness and reach, which is a crucial performance gauge of your field marketing activity. Our advanced data analytics tech can help you compare your post-campaign results against pre-campaign benchmarks, showing how your reach has changed over time.
At Dee Set, our cutting-edge field marketing technology propels us forwards, providing fresh performance insights in an instant. We can make waves remotely, or we can send our field agents out to capture impactful photos with our image recognition software.
This tech can be utilised to judge the status of your in-store displays and promotions, creating razor-sharp insights within seconds. Our expert team of field marketers and analysts can calculate your current engagement and reach by finding out what works and what doesn’t. This data can then be used to improve your in-store field marketing operations and ROI in the future.
Our advanced tech crunches the numbers to produce important data within minutes, using our innovative marketing tool Reapp to scan, analyse and produce data magic in minutes.
Want to learn more about our advanced tech? Get in touch today.
Calculating your marketing ROI is an important part of any modern business model, showing you exactly how effective your field marketing campaigns have been. By utilising a range of different metrics and techniques, you can ensure you have the key to success, making changes to improve your future strategies.
At Dee Set, we’re a company of experts, aiming to help retailers and brands across the UK with our innovative data-led approach to field marketing. We can help you improve the stature of your business, increasing both your ROI and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
We offer a wide range of services, including merchandising, promotional compliance, fulfilment and stock management, using our cutting-edge tech to ramp up your strategy.
Ready to get started? Get in touch with a member of our dedicated team and we’ll find the perfect solution.
UK consumers are more selective than ever about where they spend their money, and retailers and brands are competing in an increasingly crowded retail and media landscape. With attention fragmented across platforms and in-store competition at its peak, standing out has never been harder.
Yet sport continues to cut through, providing a potential uplift for those who want to be part of the game. It was recently reported that over a third of UK adults watch sport at least once a week, and 70% say it positively impacts their happiness (YouGov). During major sporting moments, audiences are more emotionally engaged, receptive to messaging, and more likely to act, creating a powerful window for brands and retailers who are prepared to show up strategically.
Crucially, you don’t have to be a die-hard sports fan to feel the impact. The summer of sport appears everywhere: headlines, social feeds, in-store promotions, and limited-time offers that shape consumer behaviour and drive spending. Summer 2026 promises one of the most action-packed sporting periods in recent memory, delivering heightened attention, emotion, and commercial opportunity.
A Packed Sporting Calendar in 2026
The UK sporting calendar in 2026 is filled with high-profile moments that attract diverse audiences, dominate mainstream culture, and drive both footfall and spending. Each event has unique audience characteristics and commercial opportunities:
Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games
Audience profile: Broad, multi-generational audiences with strong regional and national pride.
Behavioural insight: Multi-sport tournaments drive repeat viewing and shared consumption, particularly among families and social groups.
Category opportunity: Family-friendly snacks and soft drinks, big-night-in bundles, multipacks, and impulse-led items with high visibility.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
Audience profile: Younger, digitally engaged audiences with a strong Gen Z and millennial skew.
Behavioural insight: Audiences expect inclusive, values-led brands; Gen Z drinks less alcohol and prioritises wellbeing and sustainability.
Category opportunity: Zero and low-alcohol drinks, functional beverages, healthier snacking, and purpose-driven experiential activations.
Wimbledon (29 June – 12 July)
Audience profile: Affluent adults, ABC1 households, lifestyle-driven consumers.
Behavioural insight: Wimbledon is as much a cultural occasion as a sporting event, with shoppers receptive to premiumisation and occasion-led purchases despite the cost-of-living crisis.
Category opportunity: Premium food and drink, non-alcoholic alternatives, summer entertaining, gifting, and seasonal ranges.
British Grand Prix (5 July)
Audience profile: Experience-driven fans with strong brand affinity and disposable income.
Behavioural insight: Motorsport audiences value exclusivity, performance, and innovation. Immersive experiences and limited-edition offers perform strongly.
Category opportunity: Energy drinks, convenience-led food, limited-edition or on-the-go products, and high-impact in-store displays.
Royal Ascot (16 – 20 June)
Audience profile: Affluent, fashion-led, and social-occasion shoppers.
Behavioural insight: Blends sport with luxury and celebration, driving spend around socialising and gifting.
Category opportunity: Premium drinks and alcohol alternatives, beauty/fashion/lifestyle adjacencies, and elevated in-store theatre.
The Grand National (11 April)
Audience profile: Traditional sports fans with strong social viewing habits.
Behavioural insight: Early-year sporting moments act as commercial warm-ups, boosting impulse purchasing and promotional responsiveness.
Category opportunity: Event-led promotions, snacks and drinks for shared occasions, and short-term FSDUs.
Six Nations Championship
Audience profile: Loyal, repeat viewers with social and pub-style habits.
Behavioural insight: Builds momentum over several weeks, encouraging habitual viewing and repeat purchasing.
Category opportunity: Multi-buy food and drink offers, big-night-in and sharing formats, and consistent stock availability to meet repeated demand.
UK Retail Behaviour & Category Trends
Major sporting moments influence how, when, and why UK shoppers buy. Understanding these patterns allows brands to align activation, ranging, and supply for maximum impact.
Food & Drink: Social viewing and “Big Night In” occasions drive shared consumption, multipacks, and impulse purchases. Retail Week recently reported that more than 48% of consumers eat crisps, snacks and nuts during streaming evenings. Additionally, Sharing formats have become the largest segment in the salty snacks category, accounting for 69.4% of sales. Promotions and in-store theatre close to fixtures increase conversion.
BWS: Alcohol behaviour is evolving. Traditional spikes are now complemented by growth in low- and no-alcohol alternatives. Premiumisation is strong for events like Wimbledon and Royal Ascot, particularly with younger audiences. It was recently discovered that 10% of BWS shoppers are influenced by the desire to try a new flavour or type when making their product choice, highlighting that differentiation can be an influencing factor on the shop floor.
Convenience & Impulse: Live fixtures create time-specific demand spikes. Convenience stores play a key role for last-minute top-ups, meaning availability and visibility are crucial. Convenience Store, recently reported that although shoppers are being cautious with their money, they still expect quality and convenience.
Outdoor & Seasonal Categories: Summer sporting events coincide with better weather and outdoor socialising. Portable, on-the-go, and event-adjacent formats see increased relevance. IDG reported that Health is becoming more important to consumers, with 58% of food-to-go consumers claiming that having healthier options was important to them. Events like Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix blur the lines between sport, healthy lifestyle, and leisure, offering opportunities beyond traditional categories.
Retailers and Brands Best Positioned to Capitalise
Retailers: Supermarkets, convenience & forecourt stores, sports & leisure retailers, department stores and multiples.
Brands: Beverages (high-energy, low/no alcohol), snacks & confectionery, and sports apparel. The key is aligning activation to the right event, category, and audience.
Why Sport Still Wins in the Attention Economy
Sport captures attention at scale due to its emotional intensity, cultural relevance, and unpredictability. It’s highly inclusive, with fans engaging physically or virtually, in stadiums, at home, in pubs, or via mobile devices.
For brands, this means sport remains one of the few environments capable of delivering highly engaged, diverse audiences who are receptive to messaging and more likely to trial, impulse buy, or switch brands.
How Brands and Retailers Can Capitalise
A Data-Centric, Insight-Led Approach
Understanding audience behaviour is critical to succeed in competitive retail spaces. By pooling robust first-party data and analysing performance in real time, Dee Set helps brands deliver targeted, relevant messaging and make proactive operational decisions.
Why it’s essential: Sports audiences are diverse and fast-moving, and traditional marketing approaches risk missing key opportunities. A data-led approach ensures campaigns are optimised for impact, allowing brands to connect with the right people at the right time.
How this works:
Stand-Out FSDUs and In-Store Visibility:
Sport’s mass-market appeal allows brands to reach multiple audiences simultaneously. Eye-catching Free-Standing Display Units (FSDUs) and tailored in-store execution help brands command attention and drive impulse purchases.
Why it’s essential: Retail environments are highly competitive, especially during major sporting events when promotions and limited-time offers peak. Stand-out FSDUs provide maximum visual impact, ensuring your brand doesn’t get lost on the shelf. Well-executed in-store visibility reinforces marketing messages from experiential campaigns and digital content, creating a seamless multi-channel experience that drives sales.
Set assembles and fills displays efficiently, ensuring they meet brand standards and are strategically positioned.
Experiential Activations:
Through sister brand Reach, Dee Set creates immersive activations at high-energy sporting environments. These build emotional connections, boost brand recall, and turn attendees into long-term advocates.
Merchandising That Delivers:
Merchandising is the bridge between strategy and execution. Even the most creative campaigns fail without flawless in-store representation. These teams guarantee that brand standards are maintained, products are kept in stock, promotions are executed accurately, and opportunities to convert fans into buyers are maximised.
Our specialist teams ensure brand compliance, visibility, and flawless execution, just take your pick:
Product & Supply: Seamless Fulfilment:
We provide flexible, personalised product and supply services to remove friction during peak trading periods. Timely and accurate supply ensures products are available when demand peaks, particularly during major sporting events. Delays or stock-outs can result in missed sales and lost loyalty. Dee Set’s meticulous fulfilment process guarantees consistency, reliability, and peace of mind, allowing brands to focus on marketing, engagement, and growth rather than logistics.
Dee Set offers end-to-end fulfilment with:
Want more insights on how to win this season? Download our free Summer of Sport checklist and discover key strategies and tips to maximise performance and engagement this season.
Make the Most of the Moment
The summer of sport is a once-a-year commercial opportunity. Brands that combine insight-led planning, standout activation, and flawless execution turn short-term hype into long-term loyalty.
At Dee Set, strengthened by the comprehensive and integrated services of Acosta Europe, we make it stress-free, from planning to fulfilment, helping you convert passionate fans into returning customers.
Ready to win the summer?
Get in touch with our team to discover how we can support every stage of your summer of sport strategy.
Today marks Safer Internet Day, an important moment to reflect on how we can make our online habits safer for ourselves, our colleagues, and our customers. As digital technologies and AI-powered tools continue to evolve at pace, staying informed is essential. Understanding how to use technology responsibly and how to protect ourselves from emerging risks is now a core business skill.
The theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day, “Smart tech, safe choices – exploring the safe and responsible use of AI,” couldn’t be more relevant. As a forward-thinking business, we actively deploy AI to make processes smarter, improve efficiency, and free up our people to focus on higher-value work. But innovation must go hand in hand with security.
Key Stats:
How We Use AI Responsibly to Improve Productivity
Back in 2025, we shared how we introduced AI to streamline workflows within our Quality Assurance teams. Faced with growing demand for POS merchandising, we needed a way to scale operations without compromising quality. By automating repetitive QA checks using an AI solution that analyses images against reference standards, we reduced review time from 12 hours to just 3 per retailer. Most submissions now require no human intervention, allowing our teams to focus on coaching, decision-making, and delivering exceptional service.
This is a practical example of AI delivering real business value – enhancing productivity while empowering people, not replacing them.
Making AI Accessible – Without Compromising Security
As AI becomes part of everyday working life, our IT and Information Security teams face a critical challenge: making these tools accessible at scale while ensuring the right safeguards are in place to keep our people, data, and systems secure.
To explore how we approach cybersecurity in this new landscape, we caught up with our Information Security lead, Quinton Hayter (aka Q), to share his insights, experience, and practical advice.
Q&A: Security, AI and Staying Safe Online
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in information security?
A: I sort of fell into it about six or seven years ago. When David Pugh joined as CIO, he asked who headed up security – and the answer was effectively “no one.” It was split across teams, and he felt it needed a dedicated owner. He asked me to take it on, describing me as a bit of a bulldog – once I get my teeth into something, I don’t let go! I took that as a compliment. Since then, I’ve fully embraced the role and really enjoy helping to keep the company and its data safe.
Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about cybersecurity?
A: Never trust anything. Check everything.
Q: What security habit do you personally follow every day?
A: Updates, updates, updates. Microsoft releases patches at least monthly, browsers update almost weekly, and devices need regular restarts – a restart, not just powering off. I also check emails carefully, especially links. If something looks even slightly suspicious, report it.
Q: What emerging cyber threats should people be aware of in 2026?
A: AI-driven attacks will dominate. Deepfakes and social engineering are increasing rapidly, and identity fraud is becoming a major risk. Just because someone looks and sounds like a colleague on a video call doesn’t always mean it’s really them. We’re also seeing crime-as-a-service, where AI-powered tools are sold on the dark web, allowing less-skilled attackers to launch sophisticated attacks.
Q: How has the cybersecurity landscape changed in recent years?
A: Dramatically. Back in 2020, most attacks were email-based phishing attempts. While those still exist, cybersecurity has evolved into a board-level business issue. Remote work, digital transformation, and AI have driven faster, more targeted, and more damaging attacks. Manufacturing and operational businesses are now prime targets due to the high cost of downtime.
Q: How does our approach to security benefit employees and customers?
A: Without giving too much away, we monitor extensively. Emails are scanned, internet traffic is monitored, firewalls block untrusted access, MFA is mandatory, and we use advanced endpoint protection, vulnerability management, a security operations centre, and dark web monitoring. We also complete regular security assessments for suppliers and customers, demonstrating how seriously we take information security.
Q: Can a strong security culture really prevent incidents?
A: Absolutely. Ongoing training, internal communications, and awareness campaigns keep security front of mind. A great example was when a merchandiser reported a suspicious request that appeared to come from a senior leader asking them to buy prepaid gift cards. They trusted their instincts, reported it, and we confirmed it was a scam. That single action prevented potential financial loss and allowed us to warn the wider business.
Smart Tech Starts With Safe Choices
AI is now part of how we work, innovate, and grow – but its benefits depend on using it responsibly. By combining secure technology, informed people, and a strong security culture, we can embrace smart tech while making safe choices. This Safer Internet Day, that’s a message worth sharing.
At the heart of our approach are people like Q, and a wider business culture that treats information security as everyone’s responsibility. By combining expert leadership, robust controls, and continuous education, we ensure that innovation never comes at the expense of trust. For our clients and partners, this means confidence that their data, brands, and operations are protected by a business that takes security as seriously as performance – today and as technology continues to evolve.
For more information, you can contact us here: Contact Us | Find Out More | Dee Set
Whether you’re a small business owner who’s new to the world of eCommerce or a decision-maker for a large retailer looking to make the right choices for your company, you’re probably wondering: ‘What is eCommerce fulfilment and why is it so important?’
Well, if that’s the case, you’re in the right place – we’re breaking down everything you need to know about eCommerce fulfilment, why it matters, how it works, and how to choose the right partner. Let’s get into it.
At its core, eCommerce fulfilment is the end-to-end logistics process that gets an online order from your warehouse to your customer’s doorstep. That includes receiving inventory, storing it, processing orders, picking and packing products, shipping them, and handling any returns. While it may sound like a simple conveyor belt of tasks, there’s an art to doing it efficiently, accurately, and cost-effectively.
These days, customers expect speedy delivery and hassle-free returns, and if you’re not delivering on those expectations, you’ll quickly see competitors swoop in. That’s where expert eCommerce fulfilment services – like those offered by Dee Set – become a game changer.
Sure, you can manage your efulfilment in-house – but that’s rarely the best option for large or growing retailers. Here’s why teaming up with an eCommerce fulfilment partner pays off for businesses like yours:
Fulfilment experts live and breathe logistics. Dee Set’s advanced systems and experienced team help reduce errors, improve delivery times, and keep customer satisfaction high.
Outsourcing fulfilment means you don’t have to invest in warehouse space, staff, and tech, so you’ll save money while gaining flexibility. What’s more, mistakes are less likely to be made when fulfilment is entrusted to the professionals, meaning less wasted stock and refunds.
Whether you’re handing 10 orders a week or 10,000 (yes, Dee Set can fulfil up to 10,000 unique orders weekly and scale further during peak times), a fulfilment partner gives you the infrastructure to grow without stress.
Those mundane tasks like packing boxes and organising couriers eat into time you could be spending on the stuff that matters most, like strategy, product launches, or marketing. Outsourcing fulfilment frees you up to focus on what you do best.
Consistent delivery performance and a smooth returns process build trust and keep customers coming back for more, which is priceless in the competitive online market.
Let’s unpack the main pieces of the fulfilment puzzle… Even if you decide to outsource, it’s still useful to understand how it all works!
First up, you need to know what products you actually have and where they are. Inventory management includes:
At Dee Set, we use smart tech to keep inventory up to date in real time, helping cut waste and manage costs.
As soon as that “Buy Now” click happens, order processing kicks in. This covers everything from order verification and payment processing to generating tracking info so customers know exactly when their parcel will arrive. Dee Set’s integrated systems connect seamlessly with your website, taking over automatically from order placement onwards.
Now for the nuts and bolts:
While this step may seem straightforward, meticulous execution is a must to ensure orders are accurate, secure, and delivered on time. Dee Set’s dedicated warehouse systems are tailored to your brand to deliver exactly that.
A slick returns system boosts customer confidence and can even turn a potential complaint into a positive experience. Dee Set handles return inspections, restocking, and refunds or exchanges, keeping your customers happy and your processes as efficient as they possibly can be.
Choosing who handles your orders is kind of a big deal. Here’s what you should think about before making a decision:
So, what does Dee Set bring to the table?
Ready to level up your eCommerce fulfilment game? Let’s make it happen. Get in touch today to find out more about Dee Set’s efulfilment services.
