Published
Oct 13, 2020
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BRC says UK retail rises are linked to early Christmas shopping

Published
Oct 13, 2020

Consumers shopping early for Christmas were partly behind rising retail sales last month, the regular monthly survey from the British Retail Consortium claimed.


UK retail sales are rising



It said that on a total basis, sales rose 5.6% in September, against a decline of 0.6% in September 2019, for the best growth since December 2009, excluding Easter distortions. That said, with online sales still strong, sales through physical stores are still lower overall year-on-year.

The month’s sales rose 6.1% on a like-for-like basis from September 2019, when they’d fallen 1.3% from the preceding year.

It added that in the three months including September, non-food retail sales increased by 5.2% on a like-for-like basis and 3.2% on a total basis. That’s above the 12-month total average decline of 5%. It also said non-foods grew in September but didn’t give a figure.

It did give a figure for online non-foods growth though and that was a spectacular one with a 36.7% rise. That may have been below the average of almost 40% for the quarter as a whole, but given that so many shops are now open, it was still impressive.

And it added that the non-food online penetration rate increased from 30.8% in September 2019 to 40.1% this September.

“The industry is beginning to recover, however, forced store or warehouse closures during any future lockdowns could put paid to this progress,” said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.

She added that with office workers still at home for foreseeable future, the sales of electronics, household goods and home office products have remained high. “September sales have also given retailers early signs that consumers are starting their Christmas shopping earlier this year, which retailers are encouraging their customers to do in order to manage demand at Christmas and keep people safe. However, store-based sales, excluding food are still in double digit decline.”

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