Today’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) retail results for October reveal retail seems trapped in a Stranger Things episode, says the pioneering home delivery price comparison site ParcelCompare. It says online Department stores and fashion retailers are enjoying boom times, but the upside-down world of the High Street is in a very dark place. David Jinks, Head of Consumer Research, MILT – ParcelCompare.
ParcelCompare’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT, says: ‘Online and High Street sales are in opposite worlds. Online Department store sales soared 19.2 percent and clothing and shoes 17.9 percent YOY in October. But High Street Department store’s sales volumes actually fell by -0.1 and fashion sales fell by -1.8 percent YOY’.
Explains David ‘Clothing sales performed strongly online in October, yet fashion stores on the High Street are enduring a torrid time. In October UK shoppers spent 17.9 percent more on fashion and shoes online. Yet High Street sales continue to decline. In 2013 alone there was a net loss of 264 fashion stores from our town centres and that trend has continued. This year alone we saw the end of American Apparel, discount shoe store Brantano and even Jaeger went into administration.’
And High Street department stores have crumbled in recent years, even as their online sales are finally beginning to take off. Says David: ‘We spent 19.2 percent more than last year on our favourite department store’s web sites. But the rot continues for brick and mortar department stores. Debenhams profits tumbled by 40 percent in its recent annual results and it is planning to close two town centre stores. Alders and BHS have already disappeared. The good news is the spike in online sales shows the likes of Debenhams and John Lewis are now increasingly able to bring the quality of their store-buying experience and their strong reputation for service to their online sales.’
David concludes: ‘We really do seem to be living in an episode of Stranger Things, with a real world showing online sales booming and a upside down world showing increasingly scary results for High Street stores. A combined ‘brick and click’ approach, particularly for departments stores, is urgently needed to ensure online sales don’t entirely cannibalise store sales and lead to many more High Street closures.’
