Research by the British Property Federation Retail Summit has revealed that the some British towns are turning into ghost towns as shoppers continue to avoid the High Street, in favour of online shopping. A recent study by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) and shopping comparison website Kelkoo, found that UK shoppers spent more online [...]
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR), in a study commissioned by shopping comparison website Kelkoo, found that UK shoppers spent more online than anywhere else in Europe in 2009. The research showed that UK consumers spent £38 billion online last year (the equivalent of €1,240 (£1,070) per shopper) and accounted for almost a third of [...]
Supermarket giant Morrisons has beat its rivals by announcing strong Christmas trading results. The Bradford-based retailer said like-for-like sales in the six weeks to January 3 rose by 6.5%. Meanwhile, total sales grew 11.2% as the supermarket attracted a record number of customers and the strong festive performance resulted in Morrisons increasing its market share [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said shops in Central London enjoyed their best December since records began in 2002, with sales up 12% on year. The report came just a week after the BRC reported that Britain experienced an annual 4.2% rise in sales during December. Both sets of figures will boost hopes that the [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today announced that the High Street experienced the strongest December for eight years, boosting hopes that the UK economy will have emerged from recession in the fourth quarter. According to the BRC, like-for-like sales grew 4.2% by value during December as last-minute Christmas shoppers boosted sales. However, the BRC [...]
Peacocks, which operates more than 500 fashion stores across the UK, posted a 17% rise in like-for-like sales on last year’s levels in December and early January. Richard Kirk, chief executive, said it had experienced a “cracking Christmas as customers decided they were going to celebrate after a year of doom and gloom”. Meanwhile, the [...]
Major retailers have experienced a bumper festive season but the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is warning the High Street not to be bullish as a “very tough” 12 months is in store. Last week, British retailing giant, Marks and Spencer, reported its first sales growth in over two years. The 125-year-old retailer which sells clothes, [...]
Fashion chain Next has today reported better than expected sales figures for the Christmas period. The fashion retailer Next said like-for-like sales at Next Retail were up 3.2% in the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve. Its mail order business, Next Directory, said sales increased by 6.8% compared with a year earlier. As a result, it [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, said like-for-like sales were up 12.7% in the five weeks to 2 January 2010 compared with a year ago. The figures will boost hopes that the economy is making a recovery as consumers begin to spend again. Furthermore, the renowned employee-owned department [...]
Shoppers were out looking for bargains on Boxing Day after millions flooded the High Street. Shoppers were queuing from 4am at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham, while shoppers queued at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex as early as 5am. Retail analysts said around 12 million people hit the High Street on Saturday – with [...]
Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), which has stakes in 14 regional shopping centres including the Manchester Arndale, Lakeside in Essex and the Gateshead MetroCentre, said despite the snowfall over the weekend, retailers experienced their busiest weekend of the year. Figures show that shoppers braved the weather after figures revealed that over seven million people have visited [...]
As little as 6% of the cover price of charity Christmas cards sold by high street retailers is passed on to the charity they allege to support, an investigation has uncovered. Charities earn an estimated £50 million per year from Christmas card sales, with charity cards sold by mainstream retailers making a significant contribution to [...]
Britain’s urban dwellers are shunning the high street in favour of the internet to buy Christmas presents, PayPal has revealed. Over 40% of the people living in the UK’s major cities have increased the amount of shopping they do online in the past 12 months, a study by the online payments service found. Manchester and [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, has experienced its biggest ever weekly sales figures despite the recession. In the week to December 5, the chain reported sales of £102.4 million – up 13.8% on the same week a year earlier and nearly £1 million more than the previous [...]
The UK economy received a boost today after the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said retail sales rose at their fastest pace in two years in November. According to the CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey, retailers expect a further rise in December, boosting hopes of a busy Christmas shopping period on the High Street. The [...]
Supermarket giant Tesco has taken the next step in its quest to become a bank by signing up Fiserv. US-based Fiserv provides information management and electronic commerce systems to the financial services industry. Tesco said Fiserv will assist it in becoming a full-service bank by providing account information and banking transactions for Tesco Bank customers. [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that UK retail sales in September were unchanged from August. Analysts had expected an increase but it was the second consecutive month that retail sales were flat. It was hoped that shoppers would rush to the High Street in the build-up to the Christmas period but [...]
According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, online spending growth slowed to a record low in September as heavy discounting on the High Street dragged consumers away from their computers. Furthermore, above average temperatures during the month, as well as the threat of postal strikes have all contributed to the slower growth. With a [...]
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today revealed a fall in retail sales for the month of August due to the rainfall which kept shoppers away from the High Street. UK like-for-like sales (which excludes new stores) fell 0.1% compared with August 2008, according to the BRC. Sales of clothing and footwear lost ground, while [...]
Discount clothing retailer Primark continues to buck the trend on the High Street after reporting a 9% rise in sales in the past six months at stores open at least a year. The results come as rivals such as Marks & Spencer, Next and Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) report declines amid the recession. H&M [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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