The Live Wire



Press Release

London retail outperforms rest of UK

20 April 2009

  • Retail sales in central London in March were 5.1% higher than a year ago, on a like-for-like basis, stronger than the 1.2% decrease in the UK as whole.
  • Easter falling in April this year but in March last year, together with warm sunny weeks this March but snow and rain last March, make comparisons difficult.
  • Retail footfall in March held up well as the warmer sunny weather brought shoppers out. Shopper numbers were up on a year ago, in contrast to the small year-on-year decline in the UK as a whole.
  • The favourable exchange rate continued to attract overseas visitors, especially those from Western Europe. Some noted that visitor numbers were holding up but tourists were tending to spend less.
  • Warmer sunny weather helped clothing, footwear and outdoor leisure but homewares and furniture sales remained generally tough, especially for larger purchases. Fashion accessories and beauty products benefited from Mothering Sunday purchases falling in March 2009 but February 2008.

MARCH

Central London
Like-for-Like

% change on year ago

+5.1%

UK -1.2%

JAN-MAR

Central London
Like-for-Like

% change on year ago

-5.8%

UK -0.7%

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said:

"London retailers outperformed their UK counterparts by a wide margin. Although March didn’t include Easter this year, it did benefit from warm sunny weather compared with last year’s snow and rain. Clothing and footwear sales were boosted by the better weather. But homewares and furniture sales struggled as customers remained cautious about making expensive purchases.

"Overseas visitors provided a boost to London sales, attracted by the favourable exchange rates. Consumer confidence in the capital also held up better than the rest of the UK.”

Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, said:

"The timing of Easter - being in March in 2008 and April in 2009 - was always going to make year-on-year comparisons difficult. Also, the comparative figures, upon which March 2009 is based, were particularly weak, as last year’s results were affected by some poor weather around the country. Having said that, London continues to outperform the rest of the UK, where like-for-like sales fell by 1.2% in March, highlighting London's dependence on overseas visitors taking advantage of the weak pound. However, the growth in the capital of 5.1% was below the trend seen in the first two months of the year."



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

British Retail Consortium

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd