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Almost 22,000 retail jobs were lost in 2019, according to new data from specialist finance broker firm ABC Finance.
Some 1147 retail premises closed during the year, with the firm explaining that the most common causes for these closures included rising overheads such as rent on retail units, as well as “overexpansion and the associated debts”.
Additionally, changing customer behaviours and expectations and lower expendable income for shoppers were cited as other causes.
It also found that UK retail suffered 125,000 retail redundancies and saw the closure of 9,000 physical locations between 2010 and 2019.
The types of retail outlets which have proved “most likely” to call in the administrators across the past decade include:
- Fashion Retailers
- Homeware and Furniture
- Electronics Stores
- Department Stores
- Jewellers
ABC Finance spoke with Martin Newman, a former multichannel operator for Ted Baker, Harrods and Burberry, who said: “We’ve had the perfect storm in recent years. The political uncertainty has fuelled a fall in consumer confidence and a subsequent tightening of belts.mon
“This has led to various brands losing sales on a like for like basis. Also, companies opening too many stores. As maybe 25% to 35% of customers have migrated online, most of these sales are channel shift rather than being incremental.”
