British Retail Consortium news and archive

Retail jobs fall by 14,000 as retailers attempt to keep costs down

New figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown a significant decline in retail jobs over Q4 2022, as retailers continue their efforts to keep costs low. According to the government department’s Labour Market results, there were 3.12 million jobs in UK retail as of December 2022, down 14,000 year-on-year. Meanwhile, retail...

Retail

Retail vacancies saw marginal decrease towards end of 2022

New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found that the UK’s retail vacancy rate saw a slight improvement compared to that of the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2022, vacancies improved to 13.8 percent, 0.1 percentage points up from Q3 and 0.6 up compared to the same period in 2021. All locations were reported to have seen...

Retail

Christmas footfall highest since beginning of pandemic, according to BRC

Despite a shift in consumer confidence and their move towards essentials amid a cost-of-living crisis triggered by record inflation, footfall during the peak Christmas period was reportedly the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the British Retail Consortium’s Sensormatic IQ data, total UK footfall for 2022 still fell 11.8...

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UK store vacancy rates drop, but rising costs put retailers at risk

A new report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has found that overall UK store vacancy rates had decreased to 13.9 percent in Q3, however it warned that rising business costs could put retailers at risk. In its report, the organisation said for this quarter there was a 0.1 percent improvement compared to the last, as Great Britain begins to...

Retail

BRC publishes guideline on secondhand and pre-loved items

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has published a new guideline dedicated to secondhand and pre-loved items in a bid to help the industry work towards a circular economy. The report has been developed with input from retailers, resale platforms, charity retailers and industry experts and outlines steps businesses can take to adhere to the...

Retail

BRC says Transitional Relief system could cost UK retailers one billion pounds

On the final day of the UK government’s consultation surrounding the Transitional Relief scheme, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling on policymakers to end the “downwards phasing” part of the system. According to the organisation, retailers have already warned that failure to fix the “flawed” system could cost the industry over one...

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Curbing retail staff abuse as UK and US cases soar

Since the pandemic, violence against retail staff is at an all time high, with the UK and US seeing a surge in cases. In America, from 2018 to 2020, assaults reported to the F.B.I. by law enforcement agencies rose 42 percent, according to the New York Times. In the UK, abuse against retail staff was already at record high with over 400 incidents...

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Inflation bites into UK's post pandemic retail recovery

New data tracking the UK’s retail sales shows the high street is at its lowest growth since the pandemic. Figures from BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker show like for like sales increased by 8.4 percent in June, the lowest since February 2021. Footfall was down 10.5 percent in June compared to three years previously, with soaring inflation,...

Report

AllSaints CEO joins British Retail Consortium board

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has announced two new board members, including Peter Wood, the chief executive officer of fashion labels AllSaints and John Varvatos. Joining the team as non-executive directors, Wood has also been appointed next to Kingfisher’s chief people officer, Kate Seljeflot. “Retail plays an incredibly important role...

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Four in five UK retailers could close stores without business rates reform, BRC warns

Four in five UK retailers could close stores if no business rates reform is agreed by the government at its upcoming and long-awaited review, according to a new report. A survey of major retailers conducted by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found that 83 percent of respondents said they are either likely or certain to close stores unless...

Retail

UK retail jobs fall in second quarter

The UK’s retail industry lost 89,000 jobs in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, new data shows. Despite strong retail sales in recent months, the number of retail jobs fell to 3.015 million during the quarter, according to the latest ONS figures. But it was a brighter picture for the overall job market, with the number of...

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Non-essential stores in England set to reopen in April

Non-essential retailers in England will reopen in April as part of the country’s “cautious” plan to exit lockdown, prime minister Boris Johnson announced Monday afternoon. Speaking to MPs at the House of Commons, Johnson set out a four-step plan to ease lockdown restrictions in the coming months. In the first stage, students will return to...