a beauclair Deep Dive Into Fashion , by Diane Wehrle, brand ambassador
FASHION REMAINS A KEY ELEMENT OF THE RETAIL OFFER IN TOWNS AND CITIES BUT IT IS NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL, WITH CHALLENGING TRADING CONDITIONS CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIVERSIFICATION
According to Beauclair’s Data, the % of sales accounted for by Fashion sales across the national benchmark of UK town and cities has dropped from 23% in 2022 to 20% in 2024.
The challenges for Fashion on the high street are well documented.
- The Pandemic was a catalyst for change. It is widely recognized that the pandemic was a catalyst for key changes in our lifestyles, the main one being the extent of home working, but then associated with this our fashion style, which became far more casual than pre-pandemic.
- Online Shopping. We know categories such as Fashion that have a higher percentage of sales occurring online, are at a greater threat of store contraction. However, the most successful retailers are those embracing all touchpoints – online and offline – to create the best possible customer experience and a seamless customer journey.
The Impact on High Street Sales
Inevitably this has led to a great deal of commentary focusing on the changes that this has meant for high streets. However, this isn’t a new narrative, with the theme of the changing nature of the high street being present for as many years as I have been commenting on retail (a total of 38 this year!).
But it is clear now that the offer of high streets has become more diverse – we still have a significant number of towns and cities that are dominated by Fashion, but we also have many towns and cities where the offer has a greater degree of variety. Indeed, UK towns and cities can be segmented into five groups based on the influence of Fashion sales during 2024; from a high of 37% (median of 32%) to less than 16% (median of 13%).
With the growth of sectors other than Fashion, some have voiced that Fashion is not relevant to town centres any more. However, the data clearly doesn’t support this – Fashion sales nationally still account for 20% of total sales (up to 29% if we include the offer within the General Retail sector), and we know that in some towns Fashion sales are as great as 37% of total sales.
But we also know that over the recent past Fashion sales have had an exceedingly challenging period; between January 2022 and December 2024 Fashion sales declined by -16%, whilst sales in all of the other four key sectors increased by between +0.8% (General Retail) and +14.3% (Grocery). However, the fact that Fashion sales still account for 20% of total sales, meant that sales overall declined by -1.5%.
The key driver of this drop in Fashion sales has been a reduction in customers purchasing Fashion (-8.7%) and the number of transactions they have made (-12.5%). However, the ATV (average transaction value) for Fashion increased by an average of +5.9%, suggesting that many of those consumers who do purchase Fashion have been purchasing higher priced items.
So what does this evidence suggest for a way forward for towns and cities in terms of curating an offer so that drives as good a sales performance as possible? Firstly, it indicates that simply expanding the Fashion sector is not the silver bullet for towns that it once was. With this in mind, it is critical for a town to truly understand which sectors underpin its performance and create its unique specialism. To what extent are sales increasing or declining in which sectors, and what is driving that change? Is the retail offer consistent with the profile of town’s customers, or is there a possible mismatch? Understanding all of these factors are key if a town is to support and retain its businesses and drive long term growth.
Notes
All data on sales in towns and cities is sourced from Beauclair (www.beauclairdata.co.uk).
Diane Wehrle is the Founder and CEO of Rendle Intelligence and Insights which specialises in turning data into relevant and actionable insights that demonstrate and drive retail business and location performance. In 2025 Diane was named as one of the world’s 100 top retail influencers by Rethink Retail for the fifth consecutive year, and she is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (only one of 35 globally). A co-founder and Marketing and Insights Director of Springboard [now MRI Software] over 20 years ago, Diane Wehrle is a trusted and renowned retail analyst and commentator, providing media outlets and organisations with a data driven, intelligent and insightful perspective on footfall performance, retail destinations and consumer behaviour. Diane Wehrle is Brand Ambassador for Beauclair.