RETAILERS HIT BY PRE-CHRISTMAS SLUMP
PRE-Christmas trading had a bad start for retailers, with consumer spending declining at the fastest annual pace in more than four years, say experts.
Spending fell for the fifth time in the past six months in October, with clothing retailers the worst hit, according to Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index.
Overall spending fell by 2 per cent annually in October, marking the quickest decline since September 2013.
Visa said the cooldown was driven by a sustained fall in face-to-face spending on the high street, which was down by 5 per cent on a year earlier. By contrast, miscellaneous goods and services, which includes jewellery, hair and beauty, registered a 6.5 per cent increase.
Spending also increased by a “relatively subdued” pace of 3.2 per cent across hotels, restaurants and bars, according to the index.
Mark Antipof, chief commercial officer at Visa, said: “The pre-Christmas trading season got off to a poor start.
“Retailers will now be pinning their hopes on strong performance around Black Friday (November 24) and Cyber Monday (November 27).”