Published
Jul 7, 2017
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Fashion and online have good month in June as the sun shines says BDO

Published
Jul 7, 2017

June may have seemed like a dismal month for many UK retailers at times, but an early boost and a late spurt as the weather warmed up meant the sector turned positive overall, despite a quiet time mid-month. And fashion benefitted more than other categories.


Fashion benefitted more than other sectors from June's warm weather in Britain



Total comparable sales were up 1.3%, which easily beat the 3.6% fall of last June (the month of Brexit referendum when the poor weather was also a shopping dampener). It was the best June result since 2011 and the second best monthly result for 2017 so far.

Of course, with sales having fallen so much a year ago, the comparisons were perhaps easy and a 1.3% rise after a 3.6% fall in June 2016 means sales are still down compared to June 2015.

But its fair to say that June this year presented retailers with massive challenges. The snap general election, the uncertainty surrounding the unexpected result, the even greater uncertainty it created around Brexit negotiations, and ongoing higher inflation all meant that consumer were not feeling ultra-confident about discretionary spending.

Against that backdrop, the fact that fashion sales beat the retail sector as a whole with a 1.4% increase has to be seen as a good result. In week one fashion had been nearly 6% ahead but week two (when the weather was at its dullest and the election result was still fresh in people’s minds) saw sales dropping 8.1%. They partially recovered in week three (they were down only 1.54%) as the sun shone and Father’s Day added a boost. And then there was an 8.28% uplift in the final week, offering hope to retailers who in a CBI survey had said they weren’t very confident about July’s prospects.

While BDO said fashion was the “star performer in June as the UK basked in wall-to-wall sunshine,” lifestyle performed well too, benefitting from strong tourist numbers, Father’s Day and the good weather. Homewares also managed a positive result this month, although the4 sector was only up by 0.5%.

Importantly, online sales were strong in June too with a 22.2% rise for the month and only dropping below a 20% rise in week three when they were ‘just’ 14.5% ahead. That coincided with the return of warm weather when it seems consumers wanted to get out and about rather than just shopping from home. But despite this week three blip, it’s clear that the ever-rising online sector will continue to dent physical store sales overall for some time to come.

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