Bleak Friday? Retailers hit by spending slowdown as shoppers shun high street
High street bosses are nervously awaiting Black Friday as retail sales volumes dropped dramatically last month.
Sales volumes have dropped significantly, although this has been masked by historically high levels of inflation, data from accountancy firm BDO revealed today.
In-store like-for-like sales saw the lowest growth since lockdown in February 2021, with growth of just 5.9 per cent.
It signifies a damp launch for retail’s golden quarter period, ahead of Christmas, as consumers have been forced to cut back on spending.
Ahead of the Black Friday shopping bonanza later this month, Michael said retailers would “have to think carefully on pricing, to persuade shoppers to part with their cash, without further impacting their already low profit margins.”
It comes as record low levels of consumer confidence played out in footfall data last month, according to the British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic IQ figures.
Footfall across the UK was two percentage points worse than September, as the high street’s recovery to pre-pandemic business was hit by the economic crunch.
Retail’s recovery was dented by higher energy bills last month while rail strikes “also did no favours,” the chief executive of the BRC, Helen Dickinson, said.