07/31/2012 (press release: OnlinePR) // Paula Wilding
News reports have revealed that the recent bad weather in the UK has had a bad effect on the country’s high street stores, but online shopping figures are on the rise.
The recent torrential rain that much of the UK has been experiencing may have abated for a few days, but the damage has been done on the high street. The country has received record figures for rainfall and there have been more flood warnings than in recent years, which has seemingly caused many customers to stay indoors rather than hitting the high streets to enjoy a spot of shopping.
As reported in the International Business Times (IBTimes UK), Sarah Cordey, a spokeswoman for the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “Decisions on stock and purchasing have to be made a fair bit in advance. It is hard for retailers to respond to unseasonal weather of the sort we have had recently.”
This has obviously played havoc with retailers’ stock and many have been forced to run early seasonal sales in the hopes of enticing customers into their shops. This has managed to slow June’s consumer price inflation to 2.4 per cent, compared to 2.8 per cent in May, and a lot of retailers have found that the hype around the Queen’s Jubilee, Euro 2012 and London Games hasn’t been of much assistance.
However, this gloomy news doesn’t cover the entire retail sector, as online shopping seems to be booming thanks to the bad weather. Nowadays, nearly every high street shop has an online arm they can push sales through, and a lot are seeing good results. The BRC reported that, in the second quarter of 2012, Google searches for retail were up by 9 per cent, with smartphone and tablet searches growing by a huge 113 per cent year-on-year.
Matt Piner, lead consultant at retail research agency Conlumino, told the IBTimes UK that: “Although high streets and uncovered out of town shopping centres may have missed out due to the rain, online retailers and malls have tended to do better.”
According to Steve Muchmore, Head of Ecommerce, of discount department store T J Hughes: “The awful weather we’ve been experiencing lately hasn’t done anything to lessen the blow of a double-dip recession, on-going global financial turmoil and an ever-increasing cost of living, but people seem to be more willing to enjoy a shopping spree from the comfort of their own home.
“At TJ Hughes we offer consistently low prices that our customers can benefit come rain or shine by either visiting our website or popping into their local store, so we are hopeful for the future.”
ENDS
About TJ Hughes
TJ Hughes is a discount department store specialising in home and fashion, fragrance and cosmetics, home entertainment, technology & electricals. It offers premium brands at up to 70% discount and quality products at low prices.
Departments include menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, fragrance, cosmetics, fashion accessories, footwear, housewares, furniture, electrical, consumer electronics, toys, home furnishings and linens. Larger stores include a restaurant.
For further information please contact:
Paula Wilding
E-Commerce Marketing Assistant
0151 482 5804
Paula.Wilding@tjhughes.co.uk
w: www.tjhughes.co.uk
Social Media Tags:TJ Hughes, home entertainment, furniture
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