UK fashion retailers optimistic about Christmas & 2013

Janine is cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming AW/12 season. She reveals, “We have worked very hard to provide our customers with an even wider choice of unusual brands, of good quality but with the key all important price point.  This seems to have been a major stumbling block over the last few seasons with some of the international labels we have carried so we have dropped some of these in favour of a more original offer. 

“This is even more evident for SS/13 where we have taken on more short order brands for a fresh regular offer, without committing much of our cash flow up front.  We need to be able to compete with the high street and as an Independent we need to do everything we can to keep customers coming through the door”. 

Pamela is not so convinced that the Christmas trading period will see strong growth levels. She does not mince words when she says, “I believe consumers are looking for better value for money and this is the area that will drive sales and in turn force retailers to offer large discounts to attract the customer. This is bad news for the small retailer because while this is a period for us to maximise sales, we end up having to go into a sale earlier than necessary to compete with high street”.

One of the interesting facts, which the survey revealed as well as fashion retailers whom fibre2fashion spoke to - are the expectations of retailers from their landlords and the local councils, which displayed concerns and even pessimism about the condition of high streets.

The three top most expectations highlighted by retailers were - Lower local business taxes on commercial businesses, more flexible leases from landlords and lower or free car parking charges. Louise says, “Government can influence much of this and because of the growing pressure on them to revive the UK high street, our survey adds to this pressure”.