Key events
Back to the shopping spree, the BRC pegs part of the problem as the fact that high street shops haven’t had the extra cash to invest in the kind of shopping ‘experience’ that can entice consumers.
BRC CEO Helen Dickinson partly through the fault of taxes and burdensome regulations. Retailers are now fearing the pinch from a hike in employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.
Dickinson says:
Shopping habits are changing fast and customers are increasingly shopping experientially, and are looking for a variety of cases, services and activities.
Unfortunately, investment in town centers and high streets is being held back by our current business system, which penalizes the town and city by 100%.
The government’s business reform proposals may ease some of the burden on retailers, but it is vital that, in the end, no shop ends up paying more money than before.
With retailers facing £7bn in additional costs this year from increased tax and regulation, changes to the retailer’s system need to be made in order to keep retailers and growth ahead of the years.
Markets opened for trading this cold Friday morning and we have a mixed picture across Europe;
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FTSE 100 it is flat
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France’s CAC 40 down 0.2%
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of Spain IBEX completed, 0.1%
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Germany’s Xetra DAX it is flat
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Italians FTSE MIB is down 0.35%
Introduction: UK retailers suffer ‘disappointing year’ with 2.2% foot drop
Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, financial markets and the world economy.
This Friday’s start is disappointing news for high street shops, as well British Retail Consortium (BRC) reports a 2.2% fall in the foot for December, compared to a year ago.
That’s slightly better than the 4.5% drop in November, but it will provide little comfort to stores that were hoping for a year-end bounce back in the all-time Christmas market.
Figures from the BRC show that shopping centers have been hit hardest, followed by high street shops;
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The high road footfall decided from 2.7% in December (year to year), up from -3.7% in November.
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Shopping center footfall decided by 3.3% in December (year-on-year), up from -6.1% in November
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Retail park falsification was unchanged to 0.0% in December (year on year), up from -1.1% in November.
Overall, it meant a quarter of a foot of 2.5% going down, leaving in 2024 a full foot of 2.2% compared to 2023.
And although footfall isn’t an accurate guide to potential sales resulting from the boom in online shopping, it does add concern about how retailers have done.
The BRC’s CEO Helen Dickinson he said;
A disappointing December which saw fewer shops in all areas marked an early year for UK football retail. This means that 2024 is the second year in a row where the foot slip has been in decline.
High streets and shopping centers are especially busy all year round as people go to the retail parks to take advantage of the free parking and wider variety of stores.
Even the golden quarter, normally the peak of shopping activity, provided little relief, with footfall during the period.
While Black Friday weekend delivered several promising events, it was overshadowed by the holiday season’s indifference.
goals
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8.55am GMT: Germany holiday of the month of December
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9:30 am GMT: UK mortgage tests, net mortgage loans, consumer credit in November
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1:30 pm GMT: US ISM manufacturing index for December