BRC news and archive

UK Spring Forecast 2026: Economic outlook for retail businesses

The UK government has set out its new Spring Forecast 2026, with chancellor Rachel Reeves telling Parliament that her economic plan is “the right one” for a more uncertain world. For retail businesses, the key talking points were reports of inflation falling, borrowing allegedly being lower than expected, and household incomes that are...

Retail

Rising employment costs threaten retail jobs new BRC survey reveals

The retail sector is already under pressure, balancing a fragile economy and low consumer confidence. The implementation of the Employment Rights Act, which came into force in January, could only heighten this pressure, with a new report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) emphasising particular concern regarding labour costs. The...

Retail

BRC: Retailers adopt cautious optimism as footfall remains flattish in January

New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Sensormatic have revealed a slight drop in footfall for the UK in January. Despite a decrease of 0.6 percent year-over-year, performance was more promising than the disappointing Christmas period, during which footfall fell 2.9 percent. High streets experienced the sharpest drop at 1.9...

Retail

UK retail sales pick up in January

Following a disappointing December, total retail sales picked up in the UK during January, as discounting enticed shoppers. Over the month, sales rose 2.7 percent year-on-year, increasing against a growth of 2.6 percent at the beginning of 2025, new BRC figures have shown. January performance came above a 12-month average growth of 2.3 percent,...

Retail

UK sales growth slows in December as customers hold off for discounts

“It was a drab Christmas for retailers,” Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said in commentary on the organisation’s latest sales figures for the month of December. While total retail sales across the UK rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year, this reflected a slow down in growth for the month, which saw sales...

Retail

BRC: December footfall falters despite uplift in latter half

New figures from BRC-Sensormatic have revealed a notable decline in footfall for the month of December, as shoppers held off for post-Christmas sales. According to the data, total UK footfall fell 2.9 percent year-on-year (YoY), while for the three months to December, footfall decreased 2.2 percent. Compared to November, footfall was down 0.8...

Featured

Retail

Britain’s retail recovery is running on fewer people

December trading numbers and footfall trackers may suggest that UK retail has steadied itself. But behind the apparent normality of peak season sits a more structural concern that cannot be solved with a strong weekend or a good Christmas run: the sector is operating with materially fewer people than it once did. For many retailers, staffing has...

Retail

Footfall drops in October marking sixth consecutive months of decline

New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have shown what is now the sixth consecutive month of decreasing footfall this year as consumer confidence remains weak across the UK. According to BRC-Sensormatic, total UK footfall fell 0.7 percent in October compared to the year prior. This came above the 1.8 percent decrease reported in...

Retail

UK retail sales increase in September yet shoppers delay clothing purchases

New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggest a 2.3 percent year-on-year uptick in total retail sales for the month of September, as food sales drive performance. The figure came slightly ahead of September 2024, and was above the 12-month average growth rate of 2.1 percent. While food sales increased 4.3 percent, non-food sales...

Retail

UK Conservatives pledge to scrap business rates for high street retailers

The UK’s Conservative party has said they would abolish business rates for high street businesses, including retailers and pubs, if they were to win the next election. During a conference in Manchester, shadow chancellor Mel Stride said “the burden of Labour’s tax rises” have been "simply too much to bear”. Stride further claimed that 89,000...

Retail

Packaging EPR tax to “push up prices” for consumers

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling on the UK government to provide “great clarity” on how consumers and the environment will benefit from the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. New figures from the BRC reveal that more than 80 percent of the costs of the new packaging tax, which came into effect at the start of the...

FeaturedMember

Business

400 of Britain’s largest shops at risk, BRC warn

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is warning that 400 large-format stores, from department stores to supermarkets, are at risk of closure if the Government forces them into its proposed higher business rates tax band. New research from the BRC reveals that large stores would be at risk if they are included in the Government’s new business...