Diane Wehrle, of Rendle Intelligence and Insights, and Beauclair’s Brand Ambassador commented on January’s results:
Consumers clearly reined in their spending in January 2024, with an annual drop in sales across UK town and city centres of -4% from January 2023. This drop largely emanated from fewer customers making purchases (a drop of -4% from January 2023), however, those customers who did spend also pulled back on the value of their purchases, with a reduction in the average transaction value of -2% from January 2023.
Despite a decline in overall town and city centre sales, there was not a wholesale reduction across all retail categories. Of the top five retail categories (which account for nearly 80% of all city centre sales), sales in both grocery and health and beauty rose in January 2024 by around +2%, versus January 2023 . In contrast, sales in fashion, food & drink and general retail all declined over the same period. The fashion sector is facing clear challenges; not only was the annual drop in sales in January of around -10% more than double the declines in food & drink and in General Retail, but it followed a drop in fashion sales of -8% in December 2023.
The food & drink sector took a hit in January with spending -2% below January 2023, however, this followed a Christmas boom with food & drink sales +6% higher in December 2023 than in December 2022. Sales in the General Retail sector declined annually by -5% in January, but as this comprises department stores which encompass a range of products – particularly cosmetics – the decline is likely to have been offset by the strong performance of the health & beauty sector.
Looking into February, the school half term will hopefully provide a boost to city centre sales, with an opportunity for the Food & Drink category in particular to benefit from family days out.
The table above shows the average performance of a 62 towns and city centres, across a range of key Retail Spend metrics: