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Summary
- The sales monitor of BRC-KPMG retail showed that the retail sales growth slowed in November due to the second lockdown
- The overall footfall declined by 65.4 per cent in November, while high street retail witnessed a decline of 63.9 per cent
- Retail sales figures for the month of November showed an increase of 3.3 per cent due to heavy discounting during Black Friday.
The retail footfall data published by BRC ShopperTrak for the month of November clearly shows the deep damage the industry suffered because of the second lockdown. The UK government had imposed the second lockdown from 5 November to 2 December in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus cases in the country.
The overall footfall declined by 65.4 per cent in November, while high street retail witnessed a decline of 63.9 per cent, though a much lower decline of 26.8 per cent was witnessed in footfall at Retail Parks.
The sales monitor of BRC-KPMG retail showed that retail sales growth slowed in November, though sales increased by 0.9 per cent for the month, as compared to a decline of 0.9 per cent in November 2019. However, accounting firm BDO has reported that the actual retail sales figures for the period were higher by 3.3 per cent for like-for-like, combined in-store and online sales for November. Online sales had a significant impact on the positive performance of this sector for the month.
The month of December, however, is expected to be a comparatively better period for the retail industry as it is the festive season of the year plus there will also be a pent-up demand coming after the frequent lockdowns.
The BRC ShopperTrak report
According to the BRC-ShopperTrak report, footfall in the UK declined during the first four weeks of November 2020. There was a 31.9 percentage point decline from the October level. The Retail Parks footfall during the period remained below the three-month average decline of 14 per cent and the 12-month average decline of 21.6 per cent.
The Shopping Centre footfall decline was less severe than the high street as it went down by 61.8 per cent year-on-year. This was just a little over 24 percentage point drop compared to the October numbers and was below the 12-month average decline of 42.4 per cent.
When talking about the different regions in the UK, Northern Ireland saw the sharpest drop in the Shopping Centre footfall for the sixth consecutive month, falling by 21.0 per cent, followed by Scotland which fell by 38.9 per cent, and Wales witnessed a decline of 45.6 per cent during the period.
The second lockdown and vaccine
The UK’s second lockdown had come as a shock for many sectors as it was imposed just ahead of the festive season. The government said that in the face of an increasing number of Covid-19 infections with the onset of winter, it was utmost important to call for a lockdown followed by a tiered restriction regime to prevent things from going out of control.
In a major relief, the UK became the first Western country to approve a vaccine and start the selective vaccination in the country. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which has shown 95 per cent efficacy in clinical trials, was the chosen one and its rollout has already started. The vaccine will be first given to high-risk group people before making it available for the general public. Once the majority of the population in the country have received the vaccine, the economy is expected to bounce back, and business would start improving gradually.
