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There have been no recorded administrations on SnapShop since our last update. Many retailers are in fact embarking on expansion plans, both in the UK and abroad, to take advantage of an upturn in the economy, improving consumer sentiment and town and shopping centre redevelopments.
Research from Visa has revealed that spending by Chinese tourists in the UK increased by 45% in July compared to the same period last year after visa rules were relaxed at the start of the month. People from China spent £50m on Visa cards in the UK during July, overtaking French and Australian visitors to become the second highest spending tourists to the UK, according to figures from the credit card giant. Only Americans spend more while travelling in the UK than the Chinese, splashing £140m on Visa cards last month, up 16% on the year earlier.
With a number of retailers using pop-up shops to showcase new products or as a test-bed for opening a permanent store in a new location, it is interesting to read that pop-up retail is now worth £2.3bn to the UK economy and employs 26,000 people. According to Britain’s ‘Pop-Up Retail Economy’ from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the report, commissioned by EE, found that pop-ups now account for 0.76% of total UK retail turnover, more than £200m in sales up on last year. The research reveals that the pop-up retail sector is growing at 12.3% largely due to a rise in the number of customers and an increase in average spend.
Britain’s F&B market continues to grow, with the latest figures from the Coffee Peach Business Tracker revealing that collective like-for-like sales for the managed pub and restaurant market grew 1.1% in July. The Tracker numbers show that total sales in July, which include the impact of new openings, were ahead 4.8% across the market as a whole. Within that, restaurant chains contributed a 9.2% total sales increase against July 2014, with a 12.3% increase outside the M25.
This trend is backed up by a report by Aviva, which shows an increasing demand for casual dining. Chains such as Nando’s and Giraffe are helping to revive regional high streets and shopping centres, whilst consumer demand for the likes of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Strada and Carluccio’s remains strong and is set to continue to expand, reducing vacancy rates and pushing up rents in the UK’s high streets and shopping centres.
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