UK shoppers have been asked to “respect” new rules on mandatory face masks in shops in England following the emergence of Omicron, a new Covid-19 variant. The British Retail Consortium said “customers are asked to respect the rules and be considerate to their fellow shoppers and to hard-working shop staff.” Whether policing is necessary to...
29 Nov 2021
Four in five UK retailers could close stores if no business rates reform is agreed by the government at its upcoming and long-awaited review, according to a new report. A survey of major retailers conducted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found that 83 percent of respondents said they are either likely or certain to close stores unless...
20 Sept 2021
The UK’s retail industry lost 89,000 jobs in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, new data shows. Despite strong retail sales in recent months, the number of retail jobs fell to 3.015 million during the quarter, according to the latest ONS figures. But it was a brighter picture for the overall job market, with the number of...
14 Sept 2021
UK retail sales began to slow in August as pent-up demand to shop post-lockdown started to fade, but fashion retailers reported a strong performance, especially in the formalwear segment, new data reveals. On a total basis, sales were up 3 percent last month against a growth of 3.9 percent in August last year, according to the latest BRC-KPMG...
7 Sept 2021
UK retail saw its best growth on record in the second quarter of the year as the easing of lockdown restrictions encouraged a release of pent-up demand built up over previous lockdowns. Retail sales surged by 28.4 percent compared to the same month last year and by 10.4 percent compared to pre-Covid 2019 levels, according to the latest BRC-KPMG...
13 Jul 2021
The government has been urged to introduce new laws to tackle increasing violence and abuse against retail workers by 100 of the UK’s top retailers. In a joint letter, the companies have called on prime minister Boris Johnson to support an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to tackle the issue. The bill has its report...
5 Jul 2021
Two-thirds of retailers in the UK face legal action in July when the moratorium on aggressive debt collection from commercial landlords ends, new research shows. Almost one third (30 percent) of retailers say they have already faced County Court Judgements (CCJs) from commercial landlords, while 60 percent of landlords have given tenants less...
31 May 2021
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called on the government to encourage the take-up of green technologies and reduce emissions from goods vehicles. The British trade representative wrote to the secretary of state for transport Grant Shapps suggesting financial incentives, such as a zero percent VAT rate for new green vehicle purchases,...
25 May 2021
Strong shopper demand for fashion helped drive a surge in retail sales in the UK in April as the country eased restrictions after months of lockdown. According to The Office for National Statistics (ONS), retail sales volumes increase sharply by 9.2 percent month-on-month in April, as non-essential retailers were permitted to reopen from April...
21 May 2021
Footfall in the UK has recovered strongly since non-essential stores were permitted to reopen last month, but still remains some way off pre-Covid 2019 levels, new data reveals. Total UK footfall fell by 40 percent last month compared to two years earlier, according to the latest data from BRC-Sensormatic, which this year compared footfall with...
7 May 2021
The number of empty stores across the UK has soared in the first quarter of 2021, new data reveals. The overall GB vacancy rate increased to 14.1 percent in the first three months of the year, from 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the latest BRC-LDC Vacancy Monitor. The figure is 1.9 percentage points higher than in the...
3 May 2021
Shoppers in the UK flocked to stores on Monday as non-essential retailers in England and Wales reopened after months of lockdown. Up until 10am, footfall across all UK destinations increased 218.2 percent week-on-week. Breaking that down by locations, footfall in shopping centres saw the biggest improvement, up 339.7 percent, while high streets...
12 Apr 2021
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