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By Angeliki Derveni
Retail Correspondent
London is shopping itself out of recession, but is this not a recipe for more trouble in the future?
Although delayed, the post-Christmas rush to high street and out-of-town stores brought a brief relief to the UK’s struggling shopkeepers. The bargain seekers were tempted by the heavy discounting which started after Christmas to continue their festive shopping activities.
Actually, slow trade had started weeks before Christmas. However, the buoyant post Christmas shopping was in contrast to slow trade occurred in November and early December, which was exacerbated by a lack of disposable income among consumers concerned about their jobs and the sluggish economy, a report in Financial Times claims.
On Boxing Day and the bank holiday Tuesday the mild weather and discounts squeezing the margins made buyers flood to London’s West End shops. Even Monday’s tube strike impact was minimal as it did not affect consumers’ snaking around busy Oxford Street to claim reduced-price designer goods. Department store Selfridge's saw record sales both in stores and online with accessories and high value jewellery pieces standing at the top of consumers’ choices.
Online sales increased by 51 per cent on last year too. John Lewis’s website was visited by 1.5 consumers on Christmas Eve and Christmas day with an overall increase of 40 per cent of retail website visits.
However, a fatal accident, which happened at Oxford Street, disrupted the Boxing Day sales. An 18-year-old teenager was stabbed to death in front of crowds of shoppers after an argument between rival gangs. Eleven people were arrested and are held by the police.
Overall what seems to be happening is that shoppers are looking for bargains from retailers who have to heavily discount products, just to balance the book’s. The signs are that the first quarter of 2012 will be particularly hard for out of town retailers who will have rent to pay, business rates and VAT bills. photo credit: Natalie Mitrides copyright
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