British Retail Federation says it is too late to return to work to save city centers | Business

The organization representing retailers says it will be too late to keep downtown downtown stores, where it will be very difficult for workers in the UK to return slowly to their normal workplace.

The British Retail Federation (PRC) said sales were still below them, despite rising spending in August. Pre-infection The situation and the lack of people had a devastating impact on the operating stores Places with one-time workers.

The latest health check of High Street and PRC’s online spending warns that September will see more Job losses, A dark outlook supported by the latest survey of employment trends by the HR Advisory Council.

PRC said total sales increased by almost 4% year-on-year, but reported a distinct difference between growing digital spending and the sale of brick and mortar outlets, especially clothing and beauty equipment.

In the first three months of August, non-food store sales were almost 18% lower than the same period in 2019, while online non-food sales were 42.4% higher last month than a month ago.

Springboard’s latest football figures show a 2.6% increase in the number of people coming to the high streets last week, while a 9% increase in transactions at restaurants and bars means that the volume of its consumer spending is higher than pre-epidemic levels, Barclays Cart said.

But PRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said there were signs of a structural shift in spending patterns.

“Long-distance work continues to enable the sale of household goods such as food, computing, furniture and televisions,” Dickinson said. “The lock seems to have permanently changed the shopping habits of some consumers, with online sales continuing to rise despite the reopening of stores in June. Meanwhile, city staff retailers continue to suffer from low sales and poor sales because office workers were still away for a month. ”

Dickinson said many retailers continue to struggle, especially those who relied heavily on football.

“As rents are accumulating and the September quarterly payment date is fast approaching, many retailers are hanging by a thread. If businesses and governments are not able to successfully force office workers into town and city centers, some high street retailers will not be able to accept their fixed costs. More shops will close in September and more jobs will be lost. ”

Strong demand for construction, finance and manufacturing workers HR said its work outlook has risen from -12 to -8 in 28 years in the past months, but the harsh employment environment for retail and hospitality workers has not changed.

Mark Cahill, Managing Group’s Managing Director, UK, said: “The title number illustrates how difficult the labor market is at present. This is the second weakest perspective we have seen since 1992. But the four-point national rise from the last quarter, with a positive trend in many key sectors, has led to some cautious optimism.

“Despite the end of the Farlow project in October and the signs of a resurgence of the virus in some areas, employers expect the UK job outlook to temporarily go in the right direction by the end of 2020.”