More depressing news from the High Street. According to the British Retail Consortium, shop prices rose at their highest rate for two and a half years in June. This is hardly an inducement to lure would be shoppers back into the stores.
And this follows a run of bad news with Habitat, TJ Hughes, Jane Norman and kitchen and bathroom company Homeform, all having gone into administration. The gravity of the High Street downturn is outlined further in new research published which shows UK
So how can we persuade customers to return to the high street?
The simple answer is we can’t, certainly not in the short term. Recent research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that British families need to earn 20% more than they did a year ago to remain out of poverty as the squeeze on household budgets worsens. Any spare funds seem to be earmarked for cutting mortgage debt, as outlined by recent figures from the Bank of England. There is little money left over in the kitty.
It’s fair to say that weak consumer spending has devastated the high street and I fear there is more pain to come. Conditions will remain difficult for some time.
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