
Physical shops may be closed, but 52% of UK retailers are offering products specifically for Valentine’s Day. And 41% are expecting the event to give them a sales boost with average expectations of a 26% increase.
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Physical shops may be closed, but 52% of UK retailers are offering products specifically for Valentine’s Day. And 41% are expecting the event to give them a sales boost with average expectations of a 26% increase.
Barclaycard said overall consumer spending was down 16.3% year-on-year last month, which is the largest decline since May 2020. That happened even though spending on essential items grew 3.9%.
Consumer spending fell 2.3% year-on-year in December as areas moving into higher tiers, and reimposed lockdowns, dented the kind of activity usually seen in the festive season. But online was a bright spot.
UK consumer spending not only declined more than 7% in 2020, but it also changed radically as consumer priorities and habits shifted due to lockdowns.
Footfall to UK retail destinations was a big disappointment immediately after Christmas as Boxing Day (December 26), which used to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year, was hit by lockdowns.
November was another bad month for the fashion sector and for department store sales, according to new data issued by Barclaycard on Tuesday.
Stores in England were ultra-busy on Wednesday as non-essential shops were allowed to reopen, retailers went the extra mile to make their locations appealing and consumers rushed to buy bargains or to do Xmas shopping.
Black Friday sales dipped overall, but online orders rose as English shops stayed closed. Meanwhile, it seem that charity was also on people's minds as they shopped.
Barclaycard has said that the volume of sales transactions up to 4pm was down 16.7% on Black Friday. The company’s figures are particularly useful because it actually almost £1 in every £3 spent in the UK.
As local lockdowns and other restrictive measures kicked in last month, UK consumer spending declined 0.1% year-on-year, the widely watched Barclaycard consumer spending survey revealed on Tuesday.