Economy
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May- 2015 -14 May
US and India drive global jewellery demand
The first three months of 2015 saw stable gold demand, according to the latest Gold Demands Trends report from the World Gold Council (WGC). Total demand for Q1 2015 was 1,079 tonnes, down just 1% on the same period last year. The WGC said conditions differed from market to market,…
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13 May
Hallmarking figures up 10% in April
The total number of hallmarked articles grew 10% in April following a disappointing March, according to new figures released from all four of the UK’s assay offices. According to the data, which was compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office , there was a total of 810,831 articles hallmarked in April…
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12 May
Retail sales damaged by early Easter
Retail sales fell in April as an early Easter “pulled” sales into March and impacted results, according to new figures released today. This is according to the monthly British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG Retail Sales Monitor which found like-for-like sales decreased by 2.4% compared with April last year, when…
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8 May
Britain’s shop vacancy remains at 13% in April
Britain’s shop vacancy rate has remained at 13% in April, a level which, before March, had not been seen since 2010. This is according to new figures released today from the Local Data Company (LDC) which found that the overall retail and leisure vacancy rate also remained the same as…
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6 May
Shop price deflation remains low in April
Shop prices continued to fall in April, albeit at a slower pace, falling 1.9% compared with the same time last year following a record low of 2.1% in March. This is according to the latest BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index which found on a 12-month average basis, the index reported deflation…
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1 May
Retail sales growth eases unexpectedly in April
Growth in retail sales volumes slowed unexpectedly in the year to April but is forecast to pick up again next month, according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey (DTS). In the survey of 122 firms, 30% of respondents said volume were up on a year ago, and 18% said…
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Apr- 2015 -30 April
Consumer confidence holds steady at 12-year high
Consumer confidence held steady in April at its highest level since 2002, according to new figures from research firm GFK. Its latest Consumer Confidence Barometer stayed at 4 during the month. Of the five measures used to calculate the index, two have stayed the same, two have seen increases and…
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27 April
Mobile searches for jewellery and engagement rings soar
Searches for jewellery and engagement rings on smartphone devices increased significantly in the first quarter of 2015. According to figures releases today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Google Online Retail Monitor, searches for jewellery were up 14% across all mobile devices in the first three months of the year.…
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23 April
Non-food retailers take on more staff
Non-food retailers are taking on more staff despite a 0.1% fall in the equivalent number of full-time jobs in Q1 compared with the same period last year. This is according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Bond Dickinson’s Retail Employment Monitor, which found in Q1 2015 the number of…
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17 April
Out-of-town footfall jumps 3.8%
Footfall in March was 0.2% higher than the same time last year, an improvement on the 0.5% fall in February. This is according to the BRC-Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor which found footfall was above the three-month average of -0.5% and was the best overall footfall performance since March last…
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