UK high street enjoys best September in years, fashion sales also up

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 6, 2017

The UK’s high streets have had their best September for five years, boosted by the launch of new lines for autumn and shoppers starting to think about Christmas.

According to BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker, overall like-for-like sales increased by 2.9% in September, reaching the highest growth for any single month since April 2014.

Fashion retailers enjoyed a good month, attracting shoppers with new seasonal lines and carefully targeted discounting. This resulted in a 2.7% increase in sales, a significant improvement from September 2016 when fashion sales declined by 5.9%.

And despite reports of low footfall, like-for-like sales of lifestyle goods grew by 3.6%, suggesting that shoppers made fewer trips to stores but spent more per visit. The lifestyle and gifting sector was further fuelled by savvy shoppers beginning to hunt for early Christmas presents.

Meanwhile, sales through the internet and mail order surged by 30.4% year-on-year, the biggest increase since January 2015.

Sophie Michael, Head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO said: “Two consecutive months of positive growth will be a welcome relief for retailers following challenges seen in Autumn in prior years.

“Pulling off the best September sales growth for five years is a great result for the high street at the start of this critical trading period,” she added.

“In a month when footfall is down, positive like-for-like sales figures demonstrate that shoppers are willing to spend. The favourable weather patterns in September cannot be ignored, particularly for fashion, but this result will be encouraging for retailers as we enter the final quarter of 2017.

“Retailers will be working hard to entice shoppers whether online or on the high street, and a combination of strategic discounting, a well curated and attractive product range, and targeted promotional activity will determine the winners and losers this Christmas.”