A shocking fact: retail sales in the United Kingdom have fallen for the first time in recorded history. In 2019, 5 % fewer visitors in shopping streets meant retail sales went down 0.1 %. In the Benelux, the number of store visitors is also declining: is there a threat of a retail drama here too?
Black Friday bigger than Christmas
The British retail sector has had its worst year ever: for the first time since the beginning of records, total retails sales did not increase. They did actually fall, albeit slightly: total sales went down 0.1 % compared to 2018. The year before, there was still a 1.2 % growth in turnover.
Poor year-end sales were the main culprit: even in November and December, normally a period of strong growth, sales decreased 0.9 % compared to the year before. On a comparable basis, turnover even fell by 1.2 %: typical Christmas shopping could not bring salvation, not even in food retail, which showed a flat line in the last quarter.
Remarkably, Black Friday became the biggest retail holiday this year, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. On Black Friday, on 29 November 2019, footfall was up by 5.6 % in British stores, while over December as a whole, visitor numbers were as much as 7.2 % lower than a year earlier. In the Netherlands, the shopping bonanza also attracted the most visitors to the shopping streets, even more so than King’s Day and the Saturday before Christmas, according to Bureau RMC.
Fewer shoppers in Benelux too
Over the full year, footfall fell by 5 % in the UK. The Benelux is holding up somewhat better, although the trend is equally negative: in the Netherlands, there were 1.7 % fewer passers-by in shopping streets in 2019 – the second decline in a row – and in the Belgian shopping centers BLSC recorded 0.88 % fewer visitors.
Uncertainties surrounding Brexit, large-scale restructuring, and new bankruptcies affect British retailers more than their colleagues in Continental Europe. However, many shared challenges remain: e-commerce is causing a downward trend in the numbers of visitors everywhere, while pressure on sales and prices is being felt internationally throughout the sector. Bureau RMC notes, however, that those who do make an effort to go to stores spend more on average. There is still hope in dark retail times…
