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In the National News we keep hearing about the closure and liquidation of retail stores and department stores. Earlier this year we saw Toys R Us go under, and have since watched Maplin go into liquidation. Throughout the year big names like Carphone Warehouse, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraser have announced big cut backs and closure of a large portion of their stores (Mirror). Therefore meaning that there will be 1000’s of job cuts across the country.
On the other hand it’s interesting to see that there has been an increase in sales of 3% between September 2017 and September 2018, except department stores (www.ons.gov.uk).
What is more interesting is that internet sales increased by 11.0% for the amount spent in September 2018 when compared with September 2017, with all sectors showing strong year-on-year growth. Household goods stores reported the largest year-on-year growth of 25.1% followed by textiles, clothing and footwear stores, with a growth of 19.9%.
Although on the 3 monthly comparison (April to June, compared to July to September) the increase of 3.9% for the quantity of goods bought in “other stores” for September 2018 was the largest overall contributor to the growth in total retail sales, due largely to strong growth in watches and jewellery stores (reportedly being high end products).
Therefore we have to ask whether people are more concerned about the products they want, than getting them at the stores that they know.
Furthermore the difference in the increase of sales to the increase of amount spent does raise other questions though.
Initially you would assume that internet sales are taking over due to it being easier for people to shop around and find better prices. But on the data released (www.ons.gov.uk) maybe it’s more that people can find more products available, so willing to pay the price??
Does this mean that the reduction of jobs in retail stores will move to the increase in jobs for packaging and deliveries?
It will be interesting watch over the next year how the career market changes due to these significant changes.