Retailers suffer from warm weather autumn

It may be Halloween on the calendar, but the weather is scarily warm for this time of year.

High temperatures for this time of year has been a bain in retailers\' existence, with slow sales of heavy clothes, outerwear and anything remotely wintery. In fact there hasn't been a day this season where hats, scarves and gloves where necessary.

Retailers issue profit warnings due to warm weather

While unseasonable weather is great for the every day, for businesses it is another story. No surprise then that profit warnings from the likes of Next and Supergroup were announced when there is little customer interest in buying winter clothes.

But while Supergroup and Next say they will hold firm on pricing in the run-up to Christmas, others have already started discounting, with Gap offering 40 percent discount on some lines, and general promotions from mid-season sales to full on Christmas price wars.

Most major high street retailers had special offers in the run-up to Christmas last year, according to PwC. Marks & Spencer, for example, had a “mega day” of discounts, while in November retailers imitated America’s “Black Friday” in an effort to kick-start Christmas spending.

The result was battered top lines at a range of retailers in January. M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said “unprecedented” discounting was one of the main causes.

“We are seeing a lot of competitors discounting very heavily already,” said Euan Sutherland, chief executive of Supergroup.

Promotions drive footfall, and retailers will be doing everything they can in the run-up to Christmas to maximise their sales.

Despite the positive news of the economy bouncing back, the level of discounting this holiday season will be indicative of how buoyant the retail industry is.