Inflation
Inflation has significant implications for the UK jewellery trade, affecting everything from raw material costs to consumer spending habits. For jewellers, suppliers, and manufacturers, understanding how inflation influences pricing, margins, and operational decisions is critical to staying resilient in a shifting economic climate. Jewellery Focus provides expert coverage on inflation trends, market analysis, and insights into strategies trade professionals are adopting to mitigate its impact across the supply chain and retail sector.
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Apr- 2019 -18 AprilRetailers
UK retail sector bounces back in March
In the three months to March 2019, the quantity bought in retail sales increased by 1.6% compared with the previous quarter in 2018, according to new figures from the ONS. The sales increase has been attributed to “sustained growth” throughout the first three months of the year, and all store…
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Jan- 2019 -7 JanuaryAnalysis
What does Brexit mean for the high street jeweller?
2018 has been a tumultuous year for the UK high street and Brexit is now just over the horizon, bringing with it the culmination of two years of wrangling, debate and uncertainty about what will be the state of UK will be once we leave. But Simon Forrester, CEO of…
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Nov- 2018 -19 NovemberFeatures
Capitalising on the festive season
You have to agree that December is the easiest moth to close sales. Customers are so eager to buy, almost anyone could sell to them – and that’s the problem. Sales assistants are not motivated and too often do not try to use creative sales techniques to increase their sales.…
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Oct- 2018 -18 OctoberRetailers
Retail sector ‘to face £186.45m business rates increase next April’
Retail firms will see business rates increase by £186.45 next April for the year 2019/20, according to real estate advisor Altus Group. September’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation, announced on 17 October at 2.4% will determine business rate rises in England for the next year. It is its…
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1 OctoberFeatures
Understanding gold’s volatility
As any company reliant on a handful of large customers knows well, exposure can kill. Having a large contract pulled after investing in people or kit is a painful – and sometimes catastrophic – bump in the road. But it is not always possible to avoid this scenario – you…
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May- 2018 -18 MayEconomy
Online retail jumps 19% in April
UK online retail sales went from strength to strength in April, up 18.8% year-on-year (YoY) according to the latest figures. The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed it was the highest YoY increase since November 2016, despite the dampening effect of Easter falling in March this year. There was a…
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14 MayRetailers
Retail consumer spending sees sharpest drop since 2012
Consumer spending has suffered its sharpest drop in six years, according to Visa’s latest consumer spending index. Spending in-store fell by 5.4% in April when compared to the same period last year, while overall consumer spending fell by 2%, matching March’s year-on-year figures. Online spending was also down by 0.1%.…
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4 MayEconomy
43,000 retailers in ‘financial distress’
Nearly 43,000 retailers ended the first quarter of the year in a state of ‘significant’ financial distress, according to research from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor. Its ‘Red Flag Alert’ research for Q1 2018, which monitors the financial health of UK companies, found the number of firms in the category was…
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Apr- 2018 -11 AprilRetailers
High street store openings at lowest level in seven years
New high street store openings have fallen to their lowest level since 2010, new research suggests. A report by retail location strategists Local Data Company (LDC) for PwC, which studied 500 town centres across the country, shows that the number of new stores opened on the UK high street feel…
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9 AprilRetailers
Small firms hit by pension auto-enrolment scheme, claims FSB
Small firms and startups will be “hit the very hardest” by the doubling of auto-enrolment employer pension contributions, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). From 6 April 2018, the minimum amount employers must by law pay into workplace pensions increased by 2% of qualifying earnings, whilst staff contribute…
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