No Christmas cheer for struggling high streets December 15, 2013 HIGH street stores are failing to benefit from stronger economic confidence and higher consumer spending in the run up to Christmas, with footfall below last year’s level. According to worrying figures released this morning by Springboard and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), high street footfall this November was down 4.2 per cent on the same [...]
Online retail takes up growing share of sales before Christmas November 4, 2013 RETAILERS saw a boost ahead of Christmas during October, with sales up 2.6 per cent in comparison to the same month last year according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). However, the survey conducted with KPMG suggests the UK’s high streets may not be benefiting as much from the increase. On a like-for-like basis, sales [...]
Retailers record half a year of declining prices in UK shops November 5, 2013 UK SHOP prices fell during October, dropping for the sixth straight month as retailers struggle to sell non-food items. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen’s shop price index fell by 0.5 per cent from the same period last year, after a shallower decline of 0.2 per cent in September. Despite a rise in food [...]
Asos, Sports Direct and Home Retail results stronger – but this is a success for e-street not the high street October 23, 2013 We've seen trading updates from a host of retailers this morning. Asos saw full year pre-tax profits beat consensus forecasts, Home Retail's Homebase and Argos saw like-for-like sales up 5.9 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively in 26 weeks, and Sports Direct saw total sales up by 15.1 per cent in nine. But don't [...]
Retailers point to poor footfall despite strength of sales figures October 20, 2013 RETAILERS recorded a decline in footfall this September, despite official statistics showing the strongest rise in sales for five years during the same month. According to figures released today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard, footfall was 2.4 per cent lower last month than in September last year, with every region of the [...]
Shares in Next soar as it raises profit forecast October 30, 2013 NEXT shares jumped 4.7 per cent yesterday after the clothing and homeware group posted better than expected sales and lifted its full-year profit forecast. The FTSE 100 retailer, which has 700 stores in the UK and overseas, said that while trading had been volatile, sales increased by 4.3 per cent in the three months to [...]
Desktop users fall as shoppers move to mobile October 21, 2013 THE NUMBER of Britons searching for goods on their desktops has dwindled in the past year as tablet ownership booms and more consumers shop from the comfort of their sofa. Retail searches on desktop computers were down by 10 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same time last year, according to data [...]
Manufacturing to boost growth in third quarter October 8, 2013 MANUFACTURERS are reporting some of the strongest growth on record, according to the most recent quarterly survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Released today, the report shows some of the strongest balances ever seen by the manufacturing sector, beating every quarter since 1989. Indexes for employment, cashflow, turnover confidence and operating at full [...]
Manufacturing to boost growth in third quarter October 7, 2013 MANUFACTURERS are reporting some of the strongest growth on record, according to the most recent quarterly survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Released today, the report shows some of the strongest balances ever seen by the manufacturing sector, beating every quarter since 1989. Indexes for employment, cashflow, turnover confidence and operating at full [...]
Grimsey calls for more leisure space in bid to revive high street September 4, 2013 RETAILERS can no longer be relied on to be the anchor on Britain’s high streets, according to retail expert Bill Grimsey’s review out yesterday, which calls for more housing, education and leisure space to help “repopulate” town centres. The former Iceland chief executive yesterday published his self-funded “alternative review” of the high street to the [...]