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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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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25 October
One in three adults used BNPL services last year, Clearpay finds
Some 30% of British adults have used a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service to make at least one payment over the last year as of August 2023, according to research by Clearpay. According to findings, BNPL was most popular among Millenials and Gen X, at 41% and 36% respectively. …
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20 October
UK consumer confidence falls ahead of festive period
GfK’s long-running consumer confidence index decreased nine points to -30 in October. All five measures were down in comparison to last month’s announcement. The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last year fell six points at -19; this is nine points better than October 2022. The forecast for…
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18 October
Inflation remains at 6.7% despite fall in food prices
Inflation remained unchanged at 6.7% in September as a fall in food prices was offset by an increase in the price of fuel. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), food and non-alcoholic beverage prices fell by 0.1% between August and September 2023, compared with…
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