Thanks to Shift Your Shopping and a number of other national and local initiatives aimed at raising consumer awareness to shop at independent retailers, those surveyed by national nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) outperformed the industry, reporting an average increase in holiday sales of 6.7% in 2011.

FORBES: How Small Shops Can Compete With Big Box Retailers for Holiday Sales

Although we acknowledge that the company has been pushing significantly into online sales itself and its online sales are growing at a much faster pace than its overall sales, a shift to online shopping is likely to detract from a distinguishing feature of Best Buy in customer service.

FORBES: Property Price Problems Aside, Best Buy Cruises To $39

Many had predicted the economic downturn and consumer shift to more money-saving shopping habits would be a boon for the world's biggest retailer.

NPR: Wal-Mart Announces Big Jump In Earnings

The report's author, Dr Peter Brierley, believes that the decline reflects wider social changes - such as the decline in church attendance and the shift towards Sunday as a day for shopping or for divorced parents to see their children.

BBC: Sunday school in steep decline

Recognizing and understanding this shift in consumer behavior is the first step in reducing shopping cart abandonment.

FORBES: The Shock Of Cyber Monday: The Secret To Understanding Consumer Behavior

As well as extra shift payments existing staff are said to have been offered shopping vouchers to persuade them to work longer hours.

BBC: Addenbrooke's to recruit nurses and midwives in Europe

The consumer shift online that Pichette talked about had more to do with holiday shopping than advanced geolocation services.

FORBES: Can Google's Page Mean Business?