Every year, the holiday season delivers huge commercial opportunities for retailers and FMCG suppliers. Volumes surge, footfall intensifies, and demand peaks across categories. But alongside the commercial upside is a growing operational risk that too rarely makes it into boardroom conversations: the rising levels of stress, hostility and abuse experienced by frontline retail staff.
For store teams, Christmas has increasingly become a period defined not just by long hours and rapid-fire replenishment cycles, but by escalated customer frustration and, in too many cases, aggression. Veteran colleagues describe December trading as “total chaos,” with tempers running high and pressure hitting unprecedented levels.
This has clear implications for retailers and suppliers alike. A strained workforce is a less effective one. Abuse - whether verbal or physical - erodes morale, accelerates attrition, and increases the cost of recruitment and training. In an environment where labour shortages already challenge operational resilience, the risk compounds.
And the triggers behind customer aggression often have little to do with colleagues themselves. Shelf gaps, limits on seasonal products, substitutions, and queue length are systemic issues driven by supply chain volatility, forecasting challenges, and macro-level consumer behaviour. Yet the frontline becomes the emotional shock absorber for frustrations rooted elsewhere in the value chain.
Retailers and FMCG firms both have a stake in addressing this. A poor in-store experience can damage brand equity for the retailer, but also for the supplier whose product is associated with stock outages or last-minute scrambles. Increasingly, customer perception is shaped by the overall store environment - and that includes how staff appear to be treated.
We’re starting to see positive movement: training programmes, colleague-support initiatives, zero-tolerance signage, and partnerships with industry bodies aimed at reducing abuse. But the seasonal spike highlights a larger strategic conversation the industry needs to have:
- How do we protect and empower frontline teams during peak periods?
- What operational or digital interventions can help reduce friction before it reaches the checkout?
- How can suppliers and retailers collaborate more effectively to maintain availability and manage shopper expectations?
- What role should executive leadership play in setting the cultural tone around colleague safety and respect?
As we plan for future peak seasons, the message is clear: safeguarding frontline workers isn’t just an HR concern - it’s a brand, operational, and commercial priority. A resilient, motivated workforce benefits the entire value chain, from supply partners to end consumers.
If the industry wants to deliver a seamless, enjoyable festive experience, it must start by ensuring that the colleagues who power Christmas trading are protected, supported, and valued.
