SnapShop Monthly Summary - January 2014

Posted At: 21 January 2014 11:33 AM
Related Categories: Retail, Retail Statistics

December statistics show that Christmas 2013 wasn’t all that it was expected to be, but at the same time wasn’t as gloomy as some had thought.

• Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that year-on-year sales volumes were up 5.3% in December, and up 1.6% for the whole of 2013 when compared to full year 2012. Shopper spend was up 6.1% in December compared to the previous year, and up 2.6% on November.

• The BRC/KPMG Online Retail Sales Monitor for December 2013 shows that online sales accounted for 18.6% of all non-food retail sales and that as a whole, online sales for the month were up 19.2% on the previous year. Consequently it is not surprising that December 2013 saw a 2.4% fall in shopper numbers for the month as recorded by the BRC/Springboard Footfall Monitor for December 2013. The monitor revealed that the high street suffered the greatest fall of 3.7%, with out-of-town shoppers falling 0.6% and shopping centres declining by 1.5%.

• London’s West End outperformed the rest of the UK over Christmas, recording a year-on-year sales increase of 10% in December.

• Garden centres recorded an impressive festive season with sales up 12.5% in November and 5.9% in December, according to the Garden Centre Association’s Barometer of Trade.

• St Pancras International reported that the festive trading period produced solid results in a wide range of categories for retailers. Strong performing categories were: Pubs and Restaurants – up 11% on a like-for-like basis; Fashion – up 3% on a like-for-like basis; Non-Fashion – up 6.8% on a like-for-like basis; Coffee Shops - up 7% on a like-for-like basis; and Convenience Retail – up 2.5% on a like-for-like basis.

• Figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker reveal that the UK’s leading pub, bar and restaurant groups enjoyed a festive season boost, with collective like-for-like sales up 3.3% on last year. Total sales were ahead 6.1%.

There have been no reported administrations on SnapShop since the beginning of 2014, and indeed the number of retail administrations during 2013 fell from 194 in 2012 to 183 – the same number as in 2011 – according to Deloitte, representing a 6% decrease.

In other news, research by the Royal Mail has found that just over 40% of small online-only businesses said they would seek space in a physical store – or even open their own – during 2014, with one in 10 UK “e-tailers” saying they hoped to set up physical stores some time in 2014, as lower rents and flexible leases, coupled with more competition online, made opening a physical store more attractive.

Perhaps high street vacancy rates will continue to decline should these online-only retailers decided to take up physical space, or perhaps empty shop numbers will continue to rise when the traditional long leases signed by retailers in the 1980s and 1990s come to an end in 2015 – IPD figures show that 43% of shopping centre retail leases and 37% of all high street shop leases are due to expire within the next two years. Whatever happens, keep up-to-date with it all on SnapShop, and remember that FSP’s Leasing Support can help.
 

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Differentiating the best

Posted At: 08 January 2014 11:51 AM
Related Categories: Administrations, Retail

With a prophetic touch, FSP’s Christmas commentary this time last year ended with “Undoubtedly as more results are published, we will see the strength of those who already recognise that bricks & mortar are as much a support for the online process as profit centres in their own right.”

John Lewis and House of Fraser are crediting an overall increase in sales to online purchases, so it seems the only way is mobile. Interestingly, with like-for-likes up for both retailers, people must be topping up when they collect (although this could be more to do with the obfuscation surrounding like-for-like calculations)

One wonders what sort of doldrums Debenhams might be in without their online sales increasing by 27% in the 17 weeks to December 28th, and contributing 15.6% of their overall sales figure. They’re obviously just playing on swings and roundabouts, with clicks benefiting at the expense of bricks. Or are they just suffering from the squeezed middle whilst House of Fraser benefits from its designer names?

Next, on the other hand, despite also focusing on the middle of the market, is no longer plodding along, ending the year with such a performance that it has raised its profit forecast

These have been the high profile stories so far, so what of the rest? There was a general consensus that Christmas 2013 would be better. With last year’s comparable time finding Christmas Eve on a Monday, with the consequence of last minute shopping before that day being squashed into a mere six hours, achieving something better this year should have almost been inevitable. But some retailers got cold feet and started discounting before Christmas. Did this give them the boost in sales they wanted? Or was it a desperate ploy from those falling further off the pace with each passing day? After all, if you bagged a bargain before Christmas, might you now not be bothered with “sale” shopping again?

We believe that trust has played a big part this Christmas. Shoppers like retailers they can trust to deliver their online purchases, trust that what they have clicked can be collected and trust that the retailer will not renege on the deal by discounting early and devaluing their prized Christmas purchase before true sale time.

John Lewis, House of Fraser, Next and Jigsaw, didn’t betray that trust.
 

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