City centre retail sales declined by 4% in September compared to August but increased on a Yo3Y basis. Sales in September 2022 were +2% above sales in September 2019, a 4 percentage-point increase on August’s Yo3Y figure of -2%.
Food & Drink is still the strongest sector, but its Yo3Y performance is static
Food & Drink is the sector that has emerged as the big winner as city centres emerged from lockdown, with sales up +31% over 2019.
While absolute sales dropped -5% in September, on a Yo3Y basis they remained at +31%, the same as August, July and January.
Grocery is stronger than 2019 and is strengthening
Grocery sales dropped -6% in September, but were still +24% on a Yo3Y basis, compared to +16% in January.
YTD sales have increased from +14% in Q1 to +22% in September.
Fashion and Health & Beauty are still weaker than 2019 but are strengthening
Fashion sales dropped -1% between August and September 2022.
On a Yo3Y basis, however, fashion sales are strengthening, rising from -16% in Q1 to -9% in the most recent three-month period.
On a YTD basis, fashion sales are now down -11% on 2022 compared to -16% in Q1.
Health & Beauty sales dropped -2% between August and September, but on a Yo3Y basis jumped from -4% in August to +4% in September.
YTD sales strengthened from -11% in Q1 to -5% in September.
General Retail remains weak
The picture for General Retail is almost the exact inverse of Food & Drink.
While sales increased +1% in September, they were down -28% on a Yo3Y basis, having started the year at -32%.
On a cumulative basis, there has been a very slight strengthening of sales with YTD sales -32% in Q1 compared to -30% in September.
Glossary
Yo3Y – Year-on-3-Year. Beauclair compares 2022 sales to 2019 as the most recent complete calendar year unaffected by covid.
YTD – Year-To-Date. Cumulative sales from January 2022 compared to the same period in 2019.
Fashion – Baby and Childrenswear, Bags and Accessories, Jewellery and Watches, Lingerie, Menswear, Shoes, Sportswear, Unisex, Womenswear
Food & Drink – Alcoholic Beverages, Cafes and Coffee Shops, Confectionery, Fast Food Chains, Food Delivery Services, Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Pubs and Bars, Restaurants
General Retail – Books and Stationery, Cards and Gifts, Department Stores, Digital Marketplace, Discount Retailers, Electronics and Appliances, Other – General Retail, Pets
Grocery – Corner Shops and Newsagents, Grocery Delivery, Specialist Grocery, Supermarkets, Wholesalers
Health & Beauty – Beauty Products, Beauty Salons and Spas, Gyms and Fitness, Health and Nutrition, Healthcare Providers, Opticians
The data analysed in this article comes from a national data-set of anonymised offline transactions from over 11 million debit and credit card accounts. Each transaction is geo-tagged to track merchant location and retail sector allocated on the basis of brand or Merchant Category Classification.