November lockdown hit flooring hardest says ONS
December 20, 2020
The November lockdown was disastrous for floor retailing with ONS figures showing a £90m decline over October's strong performance.
The carpet and floor covering sector was the worst performing of all retail groups, reporting the largest monthly fall of 40% in November, due to the closure of essential retailers in most UK nations.
The four-week lockdown in England ended on November 3 and the month also included a two-week lockdown in Wales and Northers Ireland and additional restrictions in many parts of Scotland
Overall, UK retail sales fell 3.6% in November. The year-on-year growth rate in the volume of retail sales increased by 2.4%, with feedback from businesses suggesting that consumers had brought forward Christmas spending.
"In a month where England went back into lockdown and the UK as a whole was subject to tightening restrictions, it's little surprise that physical retail sales growth stalled in November," said Lynda Petherick, head of retail at Accenture UKI.
Online retailing accounted for 31.4% of total retailing compared with 28.6% in October 2020, with an overall growth of 74.7% in the value of sales when compared with November 2019.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "Retail sales will rebound in December, probably to a new record high, as people undertake their pre-Christmas shopping over a narrower time period than usual."
He pointed out that consumers had "rushed back to the shops" since non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen on 2 December.
"Retail sales, however, probably will struggle to improve on December's level next year, given that income support schemes will come to an end in April and people will rotate towards consuming more services again once they have been vaccinated.
"What's more, non-essential shops might well be forced to close again to contain a third wave of Covid-19 in January. The collapse of more traditional High Street retailers next year, therefore, seems inevitable."
He pointed out that consumers had "rushed back to the shops" since non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen on 2 December.
"Retail sales, however, probably will struggle to improve on December's level next year, given that income support schemes will come to an end in April and people will rotate towards consuming more services again once they have been vaccinated.
"What's more, non-essential shops might well be forced to close again to contain a third wave of Covid-19 in January. The collapse of more traditional High Street retailers next year, therefore, seems inevitable."
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