Supermarket price wars keep shop prices in freefall in April May 5, 2015 SHOP PRICES continued to fall in April, albeit at a slower pace, with food prices remaining at a record low for a second consecutive month. Prices fell by 1.9 per cent on the year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), a slowdown on the 2.1 per cent reported in March. Food prices fell by [...]
Lobby to push for a business rates shake-up June 11, 2015 BRITAIN’S outmoded business rates system needs to be “simpler and fairer” with more frequent valuations and removal of the levy for the smallest properties, the UK’s biggest lobby group has warned. The Treasury launched a long-awaited review of the controversial rates system in March, with businesses invited to submit their proposals before today’s consultation deadline. [...]
Total cash spent at UK retailers is on the climb June 8, 2015 UK retail sales are ticking upward with evidence that confidence is rising, as consumers spend more on big-ticket items. Total spending at retailers grew by 1.8 per cent in the three months to May compared with the same period last year, according to figures published today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and financial services [...]
British retail traffic lower in April but City shoppers buck the trend May 14, 2015 LONDONERS haven’t lost the buzz of bargain-hunting, despite the rest of the UK seeing a small drop in shoppers on the High Street. The British Retail Consortium monthly measure of shopping activity released today found average footfall across the UK in April was 0.8 per cent lower than a year ago, down from a 0.2 [...]
July Budget 2015: Living wage bill hurts retailers and small firms July 8, 2015 Retail and hospitality industry insiders warned yesterday that their sectors face a huge rise in labour costs after a Tory pledge to introduce a minimum wage of £9 for over-25s by 2020. From April next year, businesses will be required to pay £7.20 per hour to workers over the age of 25, rising to [...]
Retail sales on way up as trade deficit narrows – London Report June 7, 2015 DATA out this week might just provide some reasons to be cheerful, with retail sales numbers expected to show healthy growth during May. The British Retail Consortium sales monitor is expected to show strong year-on-year retail sales growth in May in data out tomorrow. According to Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight, this would “fuel [...]
Retail sales helped by early Easter and likely to continue – London Report April 12, 2015 RETAIL sales data from the British Retail Consortium due out this week is expected to show decent sales growth due to the fact that Easter occurred at the very beginning of April this year. The report will also show that UK consumers are highly unlikely to hold back on making purchases due to the possibility [...]
Early Easter hits April retail sales May 11, 2015 RETAIL spending growth dropped in April, after an earlier Easter pulled sales forward into March, according to industry data out today. KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said like-for-like sales decreased by 2.4 per cent compared with April last year, when they had increased 4.2 per cent. Total retail sales fell 1.3 per cent [...]
Fashion retailers see a surge in online searches April 27, 2015 UK CLOTHING retailers are benefitting from a jump in smartphone searches for their products. British shoppers’ searches for apparel are up 54 per cent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2014, according to figures released today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Google. “The latest BRC-Google [...]
Early Easter helps lift retail sales out of the doldrums in March April 13, 2015 A PICK-UP in the grocery market together with the earlier timing of Easter this year helped boost retail sales in March. Data out today from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG show retail sales increased by 3.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis in March compared with the same month last year when they fell [...]