Unseasonable weather damages independent retail sales in Q4

A “dramatic reversal of fortunes” in the last three months of 2015 has brought an end to an 18 month run of turnover growth for independent retailers.

The British Independent Retailers Association’s (BIRA) Sales Monitor for the fourth quarter of 2015 found unseasonably warm and wet weather, falling footfall, falling prices, deeper discounting in sales and rising online sales all contributed to the first quarterly drop in sales since the beginning of 2014.

BIRA said that the “key shift”, which produced the overall average year-on-year decline of 2.35%, was the reversal from six out of 10 independents seeing growth in earlier periods to six out of 10 reporting contraction in the final quarter.

In contrast to the third quarter of the year where all eight areas of the UK reported an increase in sales, seven out of eight reported falls in the fourth quarter.

The North East was the only area to report a full year of growth, while the flood-hit North West suffered an 8.5% drop in sales during the Christmas period.

A statement from BIRA said: “Retailers are by nature optimistic, it’s in the blood, and this will stand them in good stead after a warm and soggy fourth quarter.

“Facing increased business rates, the loss of the £1,500 rates discount and the advent of the National Living Wage, all in April, they will be counting on improved trade to pump up results to overcome the added load that the government seems intent on adding to weigh down on high street buoyancy.”