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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Feb- 2018 -6 February
Consumer spending grows 3.9% in January
Consumer spending increased 3.9% in January, partially driven by price increases that continued to drive uplifts in ‘essential’ spending. That is according to data from Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions. Spending growth on day-to-day necessities surpassed 4% for the first time in…
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6 February
January shows positive retail growth amid tough trading month
January saw positive retail growth despite challenging market conditions, with like-for-like sales rising by 0.6% compared with the same period last year. Helen Dickinson, CEO at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that the persisting tough trading environment played out at the start of the year with a “mixed set…
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Jan- 2018 -30 January
House of Fraser Boss wants Theresa May to give ‘clearer Brexit signal’
The billionaire owner of House of Fraser has called on the Prime Minister to provide a “definite signal” on what type of Brexit deal she wants. Ahead of Theresa May’s visit to China, Yuan Yufai said it was important for the UK government to reassure people. Yufai is the owner…
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30 January
Retailers risk losing customers if internal productivity issues are not resolved
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed retail sales in the UK fell by 1.5 per cent in December 2017 compared with November, which underlines the difficulties that retailers are facing in terms of persuading consumers to spend money. Retail technology group Conversity said that addressing this “squeeze in consumer…
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29 January
Planning applications for retail stores falls for ninth consecutive year
Planning applications for new shops have fallen for the ninth year in a row, says platform for peer-to-peer property lending, Lendy. New research by Lendy shows that the number of planning applications for new shops and shopping centres in England are down 55% since the credit crunch to just 6,090…
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25 January
Retail property demand at six-year low
Demand for retail property space fell to its lowest level since 2011 according to new figures from property qualifications body Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). According to the Q4 2017 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey demand for retail property fell for the third consecutive quarter, down 22%. Retail…
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24 January
Pets at Home reports strong Christmas sales, ends Barkers store trail
Pet supplies retailer Pets at Home has revealed positive sales growth for the 12-week period ending on 4 January 2018, compared with the same period last year. The groups reported revenue growth of 9.6% to £223.3m, with merchandise up by 9% to £193.4m and omnichannel up 77% to £13m.…
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19 January
December 2017 sees retail sales slump
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that December 2017 had the weakest retail sales in over four years. The quantity of items bought in December decreased by 1.5% when compared with the stronger sales in November 2017. Although retail sales increased by 1.3% in December compared with the…
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19 January
Carpetright shares crash 41.9% amid profit warning
Specialist carpet retailer Carpetright has issued another profit warning prompting shares to fall by 41.9%, at the time of writing. Analysts expected profit figures of £15.6m for the year, but the firm revised its full-year profit guidance to between £2m to £6m. Sales for the post-Christmas period were significantly behind…
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18 January
Retail has least business failures, figures show
The retail industry has the lowest number of business failures among all sectors in the UK, new data has revealed. Figures from UK and offshore company agents, Turnerlittle.com, revealed the top 10 industries with highest business “death rates”, and was put together using the Business Demography release, published by ONS…
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