High street sales fall back - BDO
UK high street sales fell sharply last week, research showed on Friday, as pressure continued to mount on the retail sector.
According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, like-for-like sales fell 5.98% in the week ending 15 October. A year previously, sales rose 4.16%.
Within that, in-store sales were down 2.61% while non-store slid 9.77%.
The biggest falls were seen in fashion, where sales declined 9.14%. Homeware sales fell 4.77%, while lifestyle was off 2.06%.
The weekly update coincided with data from the Office of National Statistics, also published on Friday, showing a greater-than-expected 0.9% decline in retail sales in September.
The ONS said cost-of-living pressures continued to weigh on consumers, especially for non-essential items.
Clothing has also been particularly affected by the unseasonably warm start to weather. BDO noted that there was a mix of autumnal weather last week, as sunshine and warmer conditions for most of the UK were replaced by rain and lower temperatures come the weekend.
Footfall was down 1% year-on-year, BDO noted, with high streets reporting a 1.7% decline and retail parks a 0.9% dip. Shopping centre traffic was largely flat, up just 0.5%.
The retail sector is gearing up for the festive shopping season, one of its most important trading periods of the year.