Economy
Economy explores the wider economic forces influencing the UK retail industry. This section covers inflation, consumer spending, interest rates, labour market conditions, and policy developments affecting retail performance and profitability. Retail Sectorโs Economy coverage provides expert analysis, data-driven insight, and commentary to help retail leaders, financial planners, and operational managers understand how macroeconomic trends are shaping demand, costs, and investment decisions across the sector.
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May- 2019 -31 May
Consumer confidence increases in May
Consumer confidence rose by 3 overall to -10 for the month of May, according to GFKโs Consumer Confidence Index. Four measures increased and one stayed the same. Forecasts for the general economic situation over the next 12 months have increased five points to -29; but is still eight points lower…
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30 May
Shop price inflation pushed up by non-food price rises
Shop price inflation increased by 0.8% year-on-year in May, with non-food inflation also increasing by 0.2%, according to the latest figures from the BRC and Nielsen. The BRC said the growth in May was the second highest inflation rate seen in the last six years, though it remains โwell belowโ…
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28 May
Retail sales volumes jump 1.8% despite Brexit uncertainty
In the three months to April 2019, the quantity of goods bought in retail sales increased by 1.8%, when compared with the previous three months. This was supported by a strong growth in non-store retailing, which reached a โrecord highโ of 9.4%. Online retailers selling clothing items were also the…
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22 May
Online retail sales see subdued growth in April
Online retail sales saw sales growth of just 5.2% year-on-year (YoY) in April, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index. The group said this compares โpoorlyโ to the strong performance seen in April of last year (+12.5%), but continued an ongoing trend of subdued growth seen since the…
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15 May
Retailers rethink returns policies as โserial returnersโ increase
Some 26% of retailers have seen an increase in the volume of goods being returned in the last two years, according to new findings. Research from Barclaycard revealed that 20% of retailers had taken measures to make their returns policy more stringent in the last year, with a further 19%…
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13 May
Shop vacancy rate rises to highest level in four years
The national town centre vacancy rate rose to 10.2% empty outlets, according to data from the BRC-Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor. This is an increase on the previous quarterโs 9.9% rise and the highest vacancy rate seen since April 2015. In the four weeks from 31 March to 27 April,…
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8 May
Retail sales โbelow expectationโ in April
Retail sales fell below expectations in April, despite a total sales increase of 4.1% against the decrease of 3.1% the previous year, according to the latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. This was due to figures being โdistortedโ by the timing of the run-up to Easter, which was in April this…
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2 May
Increase in redeveloped units set to ‘reimagine’ retail
The number of units that were structurally changed or redeveloped (demolished, merged, split or converted for another use such as residential or logistics) increased by 32% in 2018 as landlords and place managers work to โreimagine requirementsโ for bricks-and-mortar retailing. A new report released by retail location insight business, Local…
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1 May
Company insolvencies reach five-year high
New figures from the Insolvency Service show the first quarter of 2019 had the second highest underlying level of insolvencies in any quarter since Q1 2014. According to the figures, there were 4,187 total underlying company insolvencies in England and Wales in Q1 2019, a rise of 6.3% on the…
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Apr- 2019 -30 April
Consumer confidence remains negative in April
Consumer confidence remained at its level of -13 in April according to GfKโs Consumer Confidence Index. Two measures increased and three saw a decrease during the month. The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last 12 months has decreased this month to -1; this is the same as…
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