London retail sector emerges from storm
Retail sales growth in London was significantly better in February than it was during the previous month, new research reveals.
Retail sales in London experienced a “strong bounce back” in February following a sluggish January, according to the latest trading index.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor indicates that sales growth in February increased by just under ten per cent on a like-for-like basis, compared to the same month in 2009.
Data from the study led BRC Director General Stephen Robertson to suggest January’s disappointing year-on-year growth of 3.4 per cent was mainly down to a “snow-induced blip”.
Mr Robertson commented: “More fundamentally, London consumers are less worried about their own situations and the wider economy than they were last year and than people in other parts of the country.
“Plus overseas visitors are flocking in as the weak pound makes London a cheap place to be and to buy.”
Evidence of this last point came courtesy of foreign currency group Global Blue earlier this year. Reporting the figures, the New West End Company said they showed there was a significant upturn in the number of international visitors heading to Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street in January 2010.
Shopper numbers from Australia, Malaysia, China, Thailand and Russia all increased by at least 40 per cent between January 2009 and the same month this year, according to the statistics.
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Written by Ben Sillitoe
