The retail sales in the U.K. has been pushed back 25 by years due to Covid19
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), the go-to trade association for all United Kingdom (U.K.) retailers, has said that U.K. witnessed the worst retail sales in 2020 with total sales declining by 0.3%.
This is the worst performance in the past 25 years, ever since the record keeping started. The fall in sales was majorly driven by Coronavirus (COVID-19) led lockdowns. While food sales growth rose 5.4%, the sales of non-food items fell by 5%. Christmas shopping also failed to raise the sales because of shopping restrictions.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BRC – Helen Dickinson said, “Physical non-food stores, including all of non-essential retail, saw sales drop by a quarter compared with 2019.”
She further added, “Christmas offered little respite for these retailers, as many shops were forced to shut during the peak trading period.”
Also, the rise of 5.4% in food items was majorly because of people stocking-up food supplies in their homes in fear of extension of lockdown. In December 2020, total retail sales increased by 1.8% as shoppers spent more in the run-up to Christmas. Like-for-like sales for the month were up by 4.8% as overall shop takings were still affected by restrictions and temporary closures. The sale of non-food items online rose by 44.8% in December 2020.
The official twitter handle of BRC tweeted,
Latest BRC-@kpmguk retail sales figures show 2020 hit a record low. With shops closed for the foreseeable future, an extension to business rates relief for the worst-affected businesses is vital to avoid the unnecessary loss of shops and jobs! https://t.co/0jsbDVtIsx
— The British Retail Consortium (@the_brc) January 12, 2021
While online sales got boosted during lockdown, sales of non-food items in physical shops collapsed by 24%. The latest results have been collated with the help of the consultancy KPMG. Around 18,000 retail jobs were lost in 2020. The consultancy has also warned that new lockdowns will further worsen the conditions for non-food shops.
The U.K. Head of Retail for KPMG – Paul Martin, said, “In the most important month for the retail industry, there was some positive growth due to the ongoing shift of expenditure from other categories such as travel and leisure.”
He further said, “Once again we saw big swings in the types of products being purchased and the channels used for shopping, with much of the growth taking place online, where nearly half of all non-food purchases were made.”
Separately, figures from Barclaycard, Britain’s biggest credit card provider, showed that consumer spending fell by 2.3% in December 2020, as tougher Government controls hampered the high street and hospitality sectors. It said that online retail increased by 52.2% in December 2020 as Britons shopped from home. The in-store retail sales fell by 8.3% in December 2020. Sales in pubs and bars fell by more than 70%, while spending in restaurants plunged 65%. Physical retailers such as department stores and clothes shops also recorded declines of 15% and 7% respectively.
