Economy
The latest news, updates and analysis on the economy and how it is affecting the UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Dec- 2023 -15 December
A quarter of UK adults to scale back Xmas meal, survey finds
A quarter of UK adults will be scaling back their Christmas meal this year due to the current financial pressures, with 12% – up to 19% of those aged between 25 and 34 – planning to offer fewer dishes than usual, according to a survey by Strat7 Researchbods. The survey,…
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15 December
Consumer confidence improves during December
Consumer confidence improved two points during December to -22 as sentiment improved ahead of Christmas. All five measures were up in comparison to last month’s announcement. The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last year is up two points at -14; this is 14 points better than December…
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11 December
Black Friday fails to rally shoppers during ‘bleak’ November, BDO finds
Significant discounts in the run up to Black Friday failed to rally UK shoppers, resulting in “another disappointing month” for retailers, according to new figures released today by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. According to its High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like (LFL) sales in November fell by 0.3%…
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Nov- 2023 -28 November
Falling inflation under threat in 2024, BRC warns
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the current trend of falling inflation could be under threat in the New Year in the face of new headwinds such as rising business rates and new regulations. This comes despite Shop Price annual inflation having decelerated further to 4.3% in November,…
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22 November
Chancellor cuts National Insurance to 10% alongside NLW rise
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a series of measures to help boost the UK economy as part of his Autumn Budget including slashing National Insurance by 2% and freezing business rates for retail and hospitality. As part of the new measures, Hunt revealed that National Insurance will be cut from…
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15 November
Lower energy prices sees inflation drop to 4.6%
UK Inflation slowed sharply to 4.6% in October, beating economists expectations, thanks to a marked reduction in energy prices. According to the latest figures of the Office of National Statistics, housing and household services prices fell by 0.3% between September and October 2023, compared with a rise of 3.4% between…
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10 November
UK economy stagnates in Q3
UK GDP has shown no growth in July-September (Q3) compared with an increase of 0.2% in the previous quarter, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Compared with the same quarter a year ago, GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.6% in Q3 2023.…
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1 November
Black Friday spending to halve due to cost-of-living crisis
Overall spending per person over Black Friday is due to fall from £168.18 in 2021 back to the 2020 average of £86.06, according to Wunderman Thompson Commerce’s findings. This comes as the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation and debt concerns are expected to limit shoppers’ spend during Black Friday 2023. …
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Oct- 2023 -31 October
Shop price inflation reaches lowest point since August 2022
Shop price annual inflation has dropped to 5.2% in October, down from 6.2% in September, reaching its lowest point since August 2022, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). As a result the BRC has called upon the chancellor not to burden businesses with “unnecessary new costs” to…
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26 October
Some 88% of retailers expect sales boost from Black Friday
Some 88% of retailers are expecting Black Friday to have an impact on sales, closely followed by ‘Panic Saturday’ – the last Saturday before Christmas – with 85%, according to the latest Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index. The index, which is built using aggregated and anonymous data by O2…
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