LFL retail sales growth refers to the growth in sales as recorded by the same number of stores a year ago. This is meant to adjust for sales from new stores opened (or newly acquired companies) and stores closed in the period under review.

Store sales fell by 1.8 per cent from a strong base of 6.6-per cent rise for the same month in 2023, while non-store sales fell by 2.3 per cent from a positive base of 2.8-per cent rise for the same month last year.

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BDO is an international network of public accounting, tax and advisory firms performing professional services.

In March first week, LFL sales fell by 6.32 per cent from a base of 11.03-per cent rise for the same week last year.

In the second week of March, sales grew by 2.38 per cent from a base of 8.30-per cent rise for the same week last year.

In the third week of March, LFL sales fell by 8.82 per cent from a base of 10.54-per cent rise for the same week last year that ended in Mothering Sunday.

In March’s penultimate week, sales fell by 2.28 per cent from a base of minus 11.67 per cent for the same week last year.

In the final week of the month, which this year culminated in the Easter weekend and the start of school holidays across much of the UK, sales grew by 2.29 per cent from a base of 4.96-per cent rise for the same week last year.

Possibly due to the combination of Mothering Sunday, Easter and the widespread start of school holidays, footfall was, while mixed, generally positive in March, BDO noted. While the first and third weeks were negative, the rest of the month saw positive results.

March’s LFL total represents the sixth consecutive negative monthly result. This is the longest period of negative successive monthly results outside of the COVID-19 lockdown period when bricks and mortar stores were closed.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)