High street sales fall back - BDO

(Sharecast News) - UK high street sales fell sharply last week, research showed on Friday, as pressure continued to mount on the retail sector. According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, like-for-like sales fell 5.98% in the week ending 15 October. A year previously, sales rose 4.16%.

Within that, in-store sales were down 2.61% while non-store slid 9.77%.

The biggest falls were seen in fashion, where sales declined 9.14%. Homeware sales fell 4.77%, while lifestyle was off 2.06%.

The weekly update coincided with data from the Office of National Statistics, also published on Friday, showing a greater-than-expected 0.9% decline in retail sales in September.

The ONS said cost-of-living pressures continued to weigh on consumers, especially for non-essential items.

Clothing has also been particularly affected by the unseasonably warm start to weather. BDO noted that there was a mix of autumnal weather last week, as sunshine and warmer conditions for most of the UK were replaced by rain and lower temperatures come the weekend.

Footfall was down 1% year-on-year, BDO noted, with high streets reporting a 1.7% decline and retail parks a 0.9% dip. Shopping centre traffic was largely flat, up just 0.5%.

The retail sector is gearing up for the festive shopping season, one of its most important trading periods of the year.