Jewellery sales shine across UK shopping centres

Jewellery brands led the way in terms of sales growth across UK shopping centres in the first quarter of 2015, according to new figures released today. 

Estate agent Savills said jewellery saw substantial growth of 12% in the first quarter of the year, with growth of 7.2% over the last 12 months.

Despite this, the category of pawnbroking saw one of the largest decline in sales over the same period, down 7.7%.

Stephen Toal, head of property management research at Savills, comments: “The growth of jewellery shows that consumers are still willing to pay for higher value items where good range and service are provided – this is evidenced by the likes of H Samuel and Ernest Jones recently reporting their biggest like-for-like sales increases in 13 years.

“However, despite inflation being at 0% and shop prices falling in general, this has not triggered significant sales growth across all sectors. This may be down to consumers becoming more considered in their purchasing and / or putting money aside in expectation of future rate rises.”