UK jewellery sector sparkles in July

Jewellery saw the largest year-on-year performance in July 2016 with a 7.2% increase in sales, according to a new research from Savills based on data from its UK managed shopping centres.

The study, collated using over 1,200 pieces of turnover from across more than 50 shopping centres, revealed that the sporting goods sector was the second best performer with a sales increase of 6.6%.

In line with a longer term negative trend, both womenswear and menswear sectors experienced declines in July with an 8.8% and 7.5% fall respectively, while homeware sales dropped 13.9% after showing positive growth in the first half of the year, reflecting post-Brexit caution.

Stephen Toal, head of property management research at Savills, says: “Although it is still too early to pick out specific trends based on the result of the EU referendum, value retail has seen an immediate uptick while homeware appears to have felt the impact of some consumer uncertainty. However, the success of jewellery in July shows that shoppers are still keen to purchase higher value goods. It remains to be seen to what extent these trends continue in the second half of the year; and we will be monitoring them closely with a particular focus on Christmas which will provide a strong barometer for consumer sentiment.”

Footfall across Savills managed shopping centres increased by 0.4% in July, compared with national average declines of between -0.4% (according to Footfall) and -2.1% (according to the British Retail Consortium and Springboard).

In the first six months of the year, top performing categories included childrenswear (+8.3%), sporting goods (+7.6%) and health and beauty (+5.2%).

By contrast, the womenswear sector reported a 7% decline in the first half of the 2016.

UK jewellery sector sparkles in July

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