Why are the big retailers suffering? The experts weigh in Jeremy Nicholds, commercial director, Visa Europe 'Consumers were shopping online much closer to Christmas than in previous years' It was a tale of two Christmases in December as online and high street retailers looked to woo customers in the final weeks of the year. Overall, consumer spending in December registered a 0.6pc annual increase, with much of this rise attributed to online spending with the high street faring less well. Online demand looks to have been significantly boosted by the unfortunate weather in the run up to Christmas Day that saw consumers turn away from trawling the shops in the wind and rain, in favour of a more comfortable shopping experience on a mobile, PC or tablet. Consumers were also shopping online much closer to Christmas than in previous years which shows they continue to gain in confidence regarding the receipt of goods ordered online as well as taking advantage of services such as click & collect. Gerard Lane, Shore Capital 'The benefits of the consumer pickup has not be evenly shared across companies' The outlook for the UK consumer is brighter for 2014 with real incomes expected to grow as inflation remains low with the combination of working hours growth, an increase in personal allowances, and some wage inflation combine to deliver "take home pay." The benefits of the consumer pickup has not be evenly shared across companies, and we anticipate that this pattern will continue. We believe that the shift in income distribution seen in recent years points to change in the nature of consumer spending for retailers. On Marks & Spencer Freddie George, Cantor Fitzgerald Research 'It will take a number of seasons before a turnaround' Trading was worse than expectations and we expect reductions in forecasts. We continue to believe it will take a number of seasons before the existing team is able to manifest a marked improvement in performance in womenswear. The initiatives relating to the supply chain and IT address under-investment of the past and bring the infrastructure up to the standards of international peers but will not, we believe, lead to a significant increase in profits over the medium term. Kate Calvert, Investec 'Weather and discounts spoiled the party' Same old Christmas story - Industry outperformance from Food and an unsparkling one for General Merchandise, with weather and heightened promotional environment [discounts] contributing to the spoilt party. Profits [have been cut to] the bottom end of the consensus range to reflect the heightened promotional environment over Christmas On Tesco: Mike Dennis, Cantor Fitzgerald Research 'Tesco has been unable to differentiate itself from the competition' Management had previously stated that "the UK consumer was responding positively to the changes being made" however we believe this update will again show that Tesco has been unable to differentiate itself from the competition. The re-launch of Tesco Finest seems to have been a disappointment given no figures were given and that JS Taste The Difference was up 10pc and Waitrose premium own label ranges were strong We should also remember that last year Tesco reported a strong online food sales growth rate, up 18pc, which accounted for c.1pc of the overall food growth. We doubt this happened this year as more of the competition has improved its online offer and distribution. Our view is that management still has a lot of explaining to do over the poor relative UK sales performance, especially as they had the benefit of Price promise, refurbishment of Express, new fresh layouts, 108+ stores refreshed, Finest launch in October and discounts on fuel. Graham Jones, Panmure Gordon 'We are trimming our forecasts' Tesco's Christmas trading we would define as "OK," with UK like-for-like sales declining by 2.3pc in-line with expectations, Asia like-for-likes at -5.9pc, at the bottom end of expectations, and Europe like-for-like of -1.6pc, better than expected. We think it is prudent to trim our earnings forecast for 2014 by a further 1pc today