brc news and archive

Retail bosses warn some store in lockdown may never reopen

Some stores closed during lockdown may never reopen. Now in the midst of the holiday season, the peak sales period for many brands and fashion businesses, there is anguish amongst retail chief executives who fear of longterm damage to the UK’s high street if the second lockdown is extended. In an open letter to The Times newspaper sent from the...

16 Nov 2020

Retail

BRC warns new lockdown will ‘throw away’ retail recovery

UK retail saw strong sales growth last month as it continued to recover from Spring store closures, but a new lockdown in England “will throw away this progress”, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned Tuesday. On a total basis, sales increased by 4.9 percent in October, against a decline of 0.3 percent in October 2019, according to the...

10 Nov 2020

Retail

UK retail aims to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2040

The UK retail industry has set out a target to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2040, with stores and warehouses powered by net zero electricity by 2030. The country’s trade body, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), announced the new target on Tuesday as part of its Climate Action Roadmap which was first announced in July and outlines steps to...

10 Nov 2020

Retail

UK shop vacancies continue to rise amid Covid-19 uncertainty

The UK’s shop vacancy rate rose to 13.2 percent in Q3 from 12.4 percent in Q2 amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of increasing rates. That increase was experienced across all locations, with shopping centres hit hardest, increasing to 16.3 percent from 14.3 percent in the previous quarter, according to the...

30 Oct 2020

Retail

UK retail sales continue to improve in September

UK retail sales increased by 1.5 percent in September compared to August, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth. Sales are now 5.5 percent higher than they were at February's pre-pandemic levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In the three months to September, retail sales volumes increased by 17.4 percent...

23 Oct 2020

Retail

UK retailers paid 1.1 billion pounds last year to accept customer payments

Retailers in the UK spent 1.1 billion pounds to accept payments from customers in 2019, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which is calling on the government to take action. According to the trade body’s latest Payment Survey, card use rose steadily from 54 percent of transactions in 2016 to 61 percent in 2019. This has been...

20 Oct 2020

Retail

BRC urges consumers to start Christmas shopping early this year

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has launched a new national advertising campaign urging consumers to start their Christmas shopping earlier this year to help ease the load on retailers. Since the March lockdown, businesses across the UK have been investing hundreds of millions of pounds in strengthening their supply chains and implementing...

19 Oct 2020

Fashion

UK garment workers 'robbed' of 27 million pounds in wages since July

Garment factory workers in the UK have been “robbed” of over 27 million pounds in wages since July, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The UK trade body and MP Lisa Cameron, who is chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Textiles and Fashion, have penned a letter to home secretary Priti Patel demanding action. Some...

12 Oct 2020

Retail

Shop prices continue to fall, but Brexit concerns mount

Shop prices in the UK fell by 1.6 percent in September compared to August as retailers attempted to woo shoppers back into stores, new data reveals. That’s below the 12-month average price decrease of 1.1 percent, but above the six-month average price drop of 1.7 percent, according to the latest BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index. Non-food prices fell...

30 Sep 2020

Retail

Shop prices fall in August but Brexit uncertainty looms

Shop prices in the UK fell by 1.6 percent last month compared to a drop of 1.3 percent in July. Non-food prices fell by 3.4 percent compared to a decline of 2.9 percent in July, according to the latest BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index. Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, said in a statement: “Consumers will welcome another month...

2 Sep 2020

Retail

BRC launches Shopworkers’ Protection Pledge

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has launched the Shopworkers’ Protection Pledge calling for support for new legislation to protect retail workers from violence, threats and abuse. Eleven cross-party MPs have already signed the pledge. The BRC Crime Survey, released earlier this year, found there were more than 400 incidents of violence and...

2 Sep 2020

Retail

Usdaw calls for new law to protect retail workers from crime

British retail trade union Usdaw has launched a petition calling on the government to support legislation to help protect retail workers from violence, threats and abuse. The union said it has already provided “significant evidence” to the government about the scale of assaults and abuse retail workers face, which data shows was already rising...

19 Aug 2020