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No administrations have been reported since our last update; in fact many retailers seem to be announcing ambitious expansion plans along with those making their debut in the UK such as Australian retailer Typo.
August has been a pretty buoyant month for retail;
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Data from the Office for National Statistics has shown that sales dipped by 0.2% in the month, indicating that the EU referendum result have had minimal impact on consumer confidence. The ONS said that the underlying pattern for the retail sector over a longer period remained “one of solid growth"
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Figures from the IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index revealed that online sales grew fast in August, with shoppers spending £9.8bn over the internet. That’s 16% more than in the same month last year
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Glorious summer weather has seen pubs outperform restaurants according to figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which saw like-for-like sales across managed pubs and restaurant groups grow 0.6% in August, following on from 0.3% growth in July. According to the analysis of sales at 34 firms, pubs saw like-for-like sales up 1.2% compared to a 0.4% decline in casual-dining sales
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GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by five points in August to -7, after dropping by the fastest rate in 26 years in July following the Brexit vote
In other news from the high street;
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According to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual Payments Survey, cash was used in less than half of all retail transactions across the UK last year, with the use of cash falling to 47.15% of all retail transactions in 2015, compared to 52.09% in 2014.
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The Spotlight: Retail Revolutions report, published by Savills and intu, has revealed that shoppers in Newcastle and Birmingham spent more on fashion over the last 12 months than those in any of the UK’s other major cities, with an average spend of £304 and £313 per head respectively. Meanwhile, shoppers in Bristol spent the least, at just £184 per head
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Cushman & Wakefield's UK Shopping Centre Development Report forecasts that new retail space from shopping centre openings and revamps will reach a four-year high in 2017. More than 2.7m sq. ft. of additional floor space is under construction and due to open next year.
All things point to the fact that – for the time being at least – consumers in post-Brexit, pre-exit UK are still willing to spend, with retailers still expanding and evolving to meet the changing needs of their target market, and shopping centres are still being built. Perhaps the death of the high street has been exaggerated, as some recent reports have suggested. FSP aims to keep you up to date with all of the latest news from the high street.
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