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Since our last update, Austin Reed has failed to attract a buyer and its entire physical portfolio will cease trading by the end of June 2016. BHS is heading down the same route in what has been a sad month for the high street.
Consumer confidence is still just in negative territory despite having increased two points since April, and far below the levels seen last year. Brexit is playing a big part and given that the important EU referendum takes place next week on June 23rd, we await to see what impact this has on confidence.
May saw the contribution of online to overall sales grow as that of stores fell, suggesting a movement away from in-store shopping as more than a fifth of UK retail sales took place online in May for the fifth month in a row. Retailers saw growth in all categories online.
However, the percentage of online retail sales made through tablets and smartphones fell in the first quarter of 2016, the first decrease since etailing association IMRG’s records began in 2010. Just under half of online retail sales were completed through mobile devices during the period, down from 51.3% in the fourth quarter of 2015.
With the rising use of contactless payment methods, it comes as no surprise that debit cards are poised to overtake cash as the UK's most popular payment method in five years' time, the payment industry's trade body Payments UK has forecast. Current rates of growth indicate there will be 14.5bn payments made on debit cards in 2021 compared with 13bn cash payments. Cash usage will continue to decline past this date to account for just over one in four payments by 2025. The data showed that cash currently remains the most popular payment method in the UK, accounting for 45% of the 38bn payments made last year.
It will be interesting to see if online continues to outpace the high street, and how retailers respond to the changing retail landscape. SnapShop aims to keep you up-to-date with all of the news and latest in shopping habits.
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