UK retail is coming together. she British Retail Consortium brought together 44 British companies, including sector operators such as Harvey Nichols, Deichamnn and Tesco, to request a freeze on commercial rates that will rise this spring.
Currently, the country’s retail trade pays more than £7bn a year in business rates. In April 2024, the rate will increase in line with the inflation recorded this September which is expected to be more than 6%, which will increase business rates by more than £ 400 million a year.
When trade rates are finally raised, most retailers will be forced to raise product prices “when the inflationary pressure is decreasing,” according to the joint statement of British Retail Consortium. All the companies that demanded a reduction in prices warned that the increase would slow down investment in new stores or warehouses.
Retail pays more than £7bn a year in business bills and could rise to £400m
“A £400m tariff increase will also cost jobs, damage the economy and damage the vitality of our towns and town centres,” added Helen Dickinson, chief executive of British Retail Consortium in the statement.
According to the latest data on fashion sales in the United Kingdom, figures provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), In July, the sector’s retail sales fell again, its sales decreased by 1.7%. In month-on-month terms, fashion sales fell 2.2% compared to June. British retail as a whole grew by 1.2% in July, after an increase of 0.6% in June.
However, in the online channel, sales of textiles, clothing and footwear registered an increase of 9.9% annually, continuing the upward trend of this distribution channel throughout the year and slightly which surpasses the general trend of ecommerce in the United Kingdom.
Fashion sales in the United Kingdom end in 2022 with an increase of 15.3%, the nation’s largest annual increase in 33 years. The only data close to this figure is that of 2021, when retail sales in the sector grew by 12.7% due to the low comparable base of the previous year, the outbreak of the pandemic. The worst evolution of the historical series occurred in 2020, when the sector collapsed by 25%.
