UK shoppers hit the streets
In yet another bizarre U-turn in the UK retail sector it is believed that shoppers were out in record numbers today, many battling through snow and ice cold winds across the UK. As we covered in one of our earlier articles, many retail companies have brought forward their Boxing Day sales and we are seeing massive discounts ahead of Christmas day. So will this retail joy continue?
While many retailers will be glad to see shoppers out in large numbers ahead of the festive period, there are concerns about profitability and profit margins. Many of the smaller operations are surviving on a day-to-day basis with pressure from suppliers and insurance companies. Whether the sudden burst of interest from UK consumers will be enough to save the day remains to be seen but do not assume that all is well in the UK retail sector!
It will be interesting to see how the sector as a whole has traded when December and January trading figures are released in early 2010, although more importantly will be the divergence of performance between the larger well-known shops and smaller niche players. The UK banking sector also has a major role to play in the UK retail sector, and the wider UK business arena, and there are hopes of a recovery in liquidity in early 2010.
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