News
The latest news, updates and analysis on the the UK retail industry. Covering every segment of the market, Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Jan- 2024 -5 January
Sainsbury’s invests £200m to raise wages by 9%
Sainsbury’s will be investing £200m to increase colleague pay to £12 per hour – £13.15 in London – from March. The move is the biggest investment made by the retailer into staff pay and will benefit some 120,000 colleagues, giving them an extra £1,910 a year nationally and £2,290 a…
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4 January
Today’s news in brief-4/1/24
UK retail footfall rose by 6.1% in December driven by a festive shopping surge. Shopping centres led with an 11.1% increase, followed by retail parks (5.9%) and high streets (3.7%). Compared to 2022, footfall edged up by 0.2%, primarily in high streets (+1.2%). However, shopping centres saw a decline of…
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4 January
Food and health and beauty to perform better in 2024
Food and health and Beauty are expected to be two of the best performing retail categories for 2024, according to predictions from the KPMG/RetailNext Retail Think Tank (RTT), an independent board of retail experts. In its latest 2024 Retail Outlook report, the RTT predicts a return to volume growth in…
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4 January
Superdrug permanently halves prices of over 150 items
Superdrug has revealed that it will permanently reduce the price of over 150 everyday and essential items to make shopping for necessities more affordable. The retailer said the price reduction is its next step in supporting customers with the current cost of living crisis, having previously frozen the prices of…
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4 January
Festive shopping boosts footfall 6.1% in December
Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +6.1% from November to December as poor weather conditions, rail disruption and the cost of living crisis failed to deter festive shoppers. According to the latest data from MRI Software, December was predominantly boosted by the fourth week of the month, the final…
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4 January
JD Sports lowers guidance after underwhelming Christmas sales
JD Sports has lowered its full year profit guidance to between £915m – £935m, down from its ambitious £1bn target after seeing lower than expected revenue growth over the festive period. The company saw a constant currency organic revenue growth of 6.0% with like-for-like growth of 1.8% for the 22…
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4 January
Topps Tiles first quarter LFL sales slip to 7.1%
Topps Tiles has reported that in the 13 weeks to 30 December, like-for-like sales were down 7.1%, continuing the trend seen in the first eight weeks, with sales to trade customers “more resilient” than those to homeowners. According to Topps Tiles, trading in the first quarter reflected the “ongoing challenges…
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4 January
Barbour FY23 profits fall despite healthy sales rise
Barbour has revealed that operating profits fell 15% to £34.3m for the year ended 30 April 2023, despite seeing sales increase by 20% year-on-year to £343m during the period. The retailer attributed the dent in its operating profits to “intense cost pressures” on the business. In February 2023, the luxury…
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4 January
Mamas & Papas sales rise 17%
High street nursery brand Mamas and Papas has reported sales rose by 17% in the 13 weeks to 31 December. The retailer said a record Black Friday performance, which saw year on year sales increase 18% over the three-week period, provided “significant trading momentum heading into the crucial Christmas period”,…
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4 January
Next ups guidance after Christmas trading boost
Next has raised its full-year guidance for the fifth time in eight months, after a period of strong trading over the golden quarter. In the nine weeks to 30 December, sales rose by 5.7% against last year, £38m ahead of its previous guidance of 2% for the period. In light…
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