SNIPPETS FROM RETAILSECTOR.CO.UK
RETAIL SALES
Forecasts predict
£99bn retail sales
increase during
‘golden quarter
Non-food spend is forecast to grow at
1.6%, with health and beauty predicted
to be the best performing retail sector
Total UK retail sales in Q4 is
expected to rise by 2% to £98.8bn for
the three months to the end of 2018,
known as the ‘golden quarter’.
According to the retail data and
insights firm GlobalData, 2018 has
been a year of “retail failures, profit
warnings and store closures so far”,
but the ‘golden quarter’ offers retailers
the opportunity to “gain sales from
consumers who are finally ready to
prioritise shopping”.
Food and grocery retail sales
are expected to increase by 2.5%,
compared with 3.6% in 2017, and non-
food retail sales has been forecasted to
increase by 1.6%, compared with 1.5%
last year.
The group added that online
spending will be “bolstered” this
Christmas by Instagram’s shopping
function, which launched this year, as
well as Pinterest featuring direct links
to retailers’ product pages.
A statement by the group read:
“Health and beauty remains a winner at
Christmas and shoppers are expected
to spend on premium lines for both
gifting and self-treating.
“This is helped by a wider choice of
brands and greater shopper knowledge,
especially in terms of ingredients. With
the appeal of department stores on the
wane, we expect online pureplays to
take advantage, luring shoppers in with
discounts and loyalty schemes.”
14 JEWELLERY FOCUS
BUSINESS RATES
EU rules
could ‘thwart’
Hammond’s
business rates
promise
Hammond’s plan to help high streets
through a near £1bn, two year business
rates cut, is set to be thwarted by
European Union state aid rules, real
estate agents Altus Group have claimed.
The chancellor will slash business
rates next April by discounting bills
by a third for those retail occupied
properties with a rateable value of less
than £51,000 for 2019/20 and 2020/21
until the next revaluation comes into
effect in April 2021.
Hammond’s plan equates to a tax
cut of around £450m in each of these
years and the chancellor says this
will provide an annual saving of up to
£8,000 for each property eligible.
However, the discount will be subject
to EU rules which restrict state aid to
€200,000 (£174,265) per business over
a three year period. Altus Group said
this meant shops, pubs and restaurants
that were part of large chains would
likely miss out.
Robert Hayton, head of UK business
rates at real estate advisor Altus Group,
analysed over 6,700 retail sites in
England and Wales occupied by large
shop, pub and restaurant chains.
Hayton said of the retail sites
operated by large chains that he
analysed, over one in five, 1,487 out of
the 6,728 in total, had a rateable value
of less than £51,000 and were eligible
to the new retail relief announced
at the budget. He added that “most
large chains will reach the de minimis
regulation limit pretty quickly one way
or another and will be precluded.”
Hayton cited the £1,000 discount
which was handed to pubs with a
rateable value of less than £100,000
during the first two financial years
after the revaluation and said: “Whilst
nearly 25,000 pubs met the criteria for
that discount, less than 18,000 actually
received it.”
RETAIL PERFORMANCE
London’s West
End remains
‘best-performing’
European
shopping
destination
London’s West End has retained its
position as the best-performing retail
centre in Europe, according to figures
from independent retail real estate
agency, Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH).
With a market share of almost
€10.4bn, (£9.2bn) HDH said the West
End is “continuing to thrive”, even
with competition from new retail
developments such as King’s Cross
and Westfield London’s 68,000 sq m
extension, as well as continued loss in
the value of the pound against the euro.
The HDH 2018 European Retail
Ranking, a list of the top 50 shopping
destinations, also shows Paris, Madrid,
Rome, Berlin and Munich have held
onto their place in the table.
Jonathan De Mello, head of retail
consultancy at HDH, said: “These
rankings are particularly useful for
identifying growing markets, allowing
retailers to understand which centres
are on the rise and plan accordingly.
“This latest version highlights
how macro-economic and political
conditions impact retail spend, even in
the strongest retail centres – illustrated
by the decline in spend in UK cities, as
the pound has continued to fall against
the euro with Brexit looming.
He added: “This year we’ve also ranked
the top 10 shopping centres, and found
that the very strongest centres in Europe
– both of London’s Westfield schemes –
actually rank higher than some retail cities.
Westfield London alone attracts more
retail spend than St. Petersburg, given the
significant out-of-town competition faced
by St. Petersburg.”
December 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk