Tesco stand out as retailers have worst Christmas in 10 years

Christmas shoppers

According to the BBC, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) sales had their worst year on growth in 10 years, as retails sales grew at 0%.

However, whilst large High Street companies such as Debenhams and Marks and Spencer saw like for like sales decrease, Tesco reported a 2.2% growth for the six weeks to 5 January 2019.

Due to consumers feeling squeezed and the continuing uncertainty around Brexit retail sales experienced a decrease of 0.7% when compared to Christmas 2017.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive, is quoted as saying "Squeezed consumers chose not to splash out this Christmas, with retail sales growth stalling for the first time in 28 months.

"The worst December sales performance in 10 years means a challenging start to 2019 for retailers, with business rates set to rise once again this year, and the threat of a no-deal Brexit looming ever larger."

The slowdown was experienced both on the High Street and online.

This all points to a challenging 2019 for the retail sector of the economy.

 

Submitted by Craig Nelson on Fri, 02/08/2019 - 15:04

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In the next decade we need to see a complete transformation on the high street, rates need to drop and service levels need to increase.

Submitted by Pad on Fri, 02/08/2019 - 15:17

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Councils need to think would they rather have 100% of a lower rate or 0% of high rates and boarded up units. Ugly and uninviting, stopping people so causing more failures. A never ending cycle..

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