BDO reports drop of 4.3% in year on year sales for November.
New figures released today have revealed that high sales dropped by 4.3% year on year in November.
BDO’s monthly High Street Sales Tracker said the drop equalled the largest fall in monthly like for like sales this year – and retailers would need to go back to November 2008 to find a more severe monthly dip.
Mixed messages and confusing discounting strategies contributed to a downturn across all sectors, according to BDO.
Sales of lifestyle goods were down 4% and fashion stores dropped 4.9% on this time last year.
However, homewares rallied with a growth of 5.5%, but the spending slowdown hit online sales. Non-store sales – including pure play online retailers and the digital outlets of bricks and mortar stores – grew 15.1% year on year – the third lowest growth ever recorded by BDO’s HSST index since its records began five years ago.
“Now Black Friday is out of the way, store owners will be banking on people having money in their pockets to satisfy pent up demand in December, and spark a pre-Christmas rush of festive shopping to end the year on a high,” said Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO.
