It was a “disappointing” January for discretionary UK retail according to advisory firm BDO’s latest High Street Sales Tracker (HSST).
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It said in-store discretionary sales grew by 3.2%, compared to a negative base last year when total like-for-like retail sales had fallen by 0.8% and in-store sales suffered an even more significant fall with 4.2% drop. That means the latest January figures didn’t didn’t recover the losses of this time last year.
The best news in January 2025 came for online sales as they saw “significant growth”, although this was driven in part more by poor January weather than by any ultra-enthusiasm on the part of consumers.
The worst news overall was that “fashion and homewares bricks and mortar sales performed particularly poorly against negative bases”.
So, let’s look at the details. Total retail sales in discretionary spend categories grew by 7.1% in January, but “concerns remain that 2025 is set to be another difficult year for retail as rising costs continue to mount”, BDO’s HSST said.
As mentioned, online outperformed, rising 15.5% year on year while that not-good-enough 3.2% in-store increase after last January’s larger fall came as BDO said there has been “a large drop in volumes over the past two years”.
Despite plenty of big-name fashion and homewares retailers reporting a good festive season and ongoing strength in the New Year, their categories were weak overall last month.
Yes, the HSST showed their sales in-store rose 3.3% and 3.4%, respectively. But in the previous January they’d been down 6.7% and 10.1%, so it was another story of the latest increase looking good on the surface but failing by a wide margin to recover the deficit of the previous year.
BDO said January’s poor weather may have contributed to mixed footfall on the high street and driven a better result for online sales, but that the numbers were “also a continuation of the sector’s overall poor performance in 2024 and a disappointing final Golden Quarter”.
Sophie Michael, Head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO, commented: “These results may seem positive on the surface, but the underlying numbers show that the weak growth in the run up to Christmas has continued into the New Year. While many retailers may have seen a rise in sales through the release of some of the pent-up consumer spending that didn’t come through before Christmas, January trading for discretionary spend requires heavy encouragement through discounting; this delayed spending will no doubt have a significant impact on already thin margins.
“The sector has been challenged for some time by the impact of significant cost increases, which will continue to mount throughout the year, particularly post the implementation of the changes in the budget this April. Raising the thresholds for National Insurance contributions will disproportionately affect retailers, who tend to have large workforces with lower average earnings. Add in increases to the National Living Wage, business rates and the Plastic Packaging Tax all coming together and at fast pace, their thin margins will be under even more pressure.
“Retailers need to find a way to balance the increased cost of doing business while investing in product development, customer service and underlying technology, like AI, that will maintain their competitiveness. They need clear visibility on how their costs will increase to identify effective actions to mitigate the impact. This includes clarity over how their supply chain costs will rise, with many of the businesses they rely on being subject to some of the same pressures as themselves. The sector already saw a high number of job losses in 2024 and retail store closures; with the oncoming cost increases, these numbers are unlikely to ease in 2025.”
Miner Anglo American‘s diamond unit De Beers said on Monday it had finalised negotiations with the Botswana government for a new rough diamond sales agreement and extended mining licences for its joint venture beyond 2029.
Debswana, a 50:50 joint venture between top diamond producer Botswana and De Beers, currently sells 75% of its output to De Beers.
In 2023, Botswana and De Beers agreed to a fresh 10-year diamond sales deal, under which the government’s share of diamonds from the Debswana JV will increase to 30% and gradually rise to 50% over the decade.
However, this agreement was never signed under the leadership of former president Mokgweetsi Masisi.
On January 23, Botswana’s new President Duma Boko said he hoped to clinch a long-delayed sales pact with De Beers soon.
In addition, Boko said talks aimed at increasing Botswana’s ownership stake in De Beers – currently at 15% – were “going well”.
Anglo American is seeking to divest De Beers as part of a broader restructuring plan aimed at refocusing its operations on copper and iron ore mining.
The duo of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have renewed their contracts for a further five years as the creative directors of the fashion house they founded.
The designers and OTB Group – the main holding company of Italian fashion entrepreneur Renzo Rosso, which controls the Dutch fashion house – broke the news in a joint statement released on Monday.
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren – OTB Group
Based in Amsterdam, Viktor & Rolf founded their Haute Couture maison in 1993. They became part of the OTB Group in 2008.
“Viktor and Rolf are two unique voices in the world of international fashion, couturiers who have revolutionized the very concept of Haute Couture, and everything they do is art. I am very happy to continue the collaboration with them, their talent will continue to inspire and amaze the fashion world,” said Rosso, Chairman and founder of the OTB Group.
Added Horsting and Snoeren: “Within an ever-changing fashion landscape of brands and designers, we are proud to continue our singular artistic path of 30 plus years.”
Despite reports of occasional friction between the duo and the OTB Group due to designers’ hyper conceptual approach, the renewal was not unexpected. However, it comes in the wake of the departure from the OTB Group’s most acclaimed designer John Galliano, who left Maison Margiela after almost a decade in the autumn. Departing despite staging the most acclaimed couture show in fashion this past decade in January 2024.
With Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, their maison became a one-of-a-kind success in the world of Haute Couture, creating collections that represent various nuances and forms of their artistic expression.
In the release, OTB Group lauded the duo’s constant exploration of “the borderland between art and fashion, constantly reinventing and reshaping the very concept of Haute Couture.”
Their memorable collections include Haute Couture Spring Summer 2019 – Fashion Statements, entirely made of colored tulle; Haute Couture Spring Summer 2022 – Surreal Shoulder, characterized by extreme, distorted, and elongated silhouettes. While Haute Couture Spring Summer 2023 – Late Stage Capitalism Waltz, defied the laws of gravity with surrealist garments worn upside down, sideways, perpendicularly, and away from the body; and Haute Couture Spring Summer 2024 – Scissorhands, was a collection born to explore the creative and decorative possibilities of a pair of tailor’s scissors.
While with OTB, Viktor & Rolf have also developed women’s collections of demi-couture inspiration; bridalwear with Viktor & Rolf Marriage; and eyewear collections with Viktor & Rolf Vision.
The duo have also built a highly successful fragrance business with a licensing agreement with L’Oréal Luxe, boasting such as worldwide bestsellers as Flowerbomb, Spicebomb and Good Fortune.
The vision and the artistic creations of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren have been celebrated in countless international exhibitions, including “Camp: Notes of Fashion” at the MET Museum, “Viktor&Rolf Fashion Artists” at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, “Viktor&Rolf: MetaFashion!” at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shenzhen,” Viktor&Rolf par Viktor&Rolf : Première Décennie” at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile, “ The House of Viktor&Rolf” at the Barbican Art Gallery, and “Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists” at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
On the occasion of the brand’s 30th anniversary, one hundred of their most iconic pieces were showcased in the exhibition “Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Statements” at the Kunsthalle in Munich. Some of their dresses were also selected as the protagonists and symbols of the exhibition “Memorabile. Ipermoda.” still ongoing at the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, in collaboration with the National Chamber of Italian Fashion.
Hong Kong’s December retail sales by value fell by 9.7% from a year earlier, reflecting the impact of residents’ increased outbound trips during the holidays, government data showed on Monday.
Reuters
Sales fell to HK$32.8 billion ($4.21 billion), a tenth month of declines after a 7.3% drop in November.
“The near-term performance of the retail sector would continue to be affected by the change in consumption patterns of visitors and residents,” a government spokesman said, adding various measures by Beijing to boost the mainland economy and the Hong Kong government’s efforts to promote tourism would boost sentiment.
Sales fell despite a rise in tourist numbers, as shoppers spent less and fewer visitors from mainland China stayed over.
In volume terms, December retail sales fell 11.5% from a year earlier, compared with a revised 8.4% decline in November.
For the whole of 2024, total retail sales value decreased 7.3% compared to the same period in 2023, while the volume of total retail sales fell 9.0%, according to provisional estimates.
China eased visa restrictions for Shenzhen residents visiting Hong Kong effective Dec. 1. December visitor arrivals stood at 4.26 million, up 8.3% from the same month a year ago, data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board showed. That compared to 3.57 million in November, 4.09 million in October and 3.06 million in September.
The number of mainland Chinese visitors stood at 3.10 million in December, up 5.2% from a year ago. That compared to 2.56 million in November, 3.14 million in October and 2.29 million in September.
For the whole of 2024, total visitor arrivals stood at 44.5 million, up 30.9% from 2023. Sales of jewellery, watches, clocks and valuable gifts fell 13.8% in December year-on-year after a 4.2% decline in November.
Sales of clothing, footwear and allied products dropped 10.2% in December after a 5.2% decline in November.
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