Poor figures from John Lewis, and a slowdown at Tesco and Sainsbury’s has raised fresh concerns that the uncertain political climate is taking its toll on consumer confidence this Christmas.
December is the most lucrative time of the year for the retail sector but John Lewis said sales in its department stores fell by more than 5% last week. The picture from its fashion and homewares divisions was even weaker, with sales in both down by about 7%.
Last week Primark warned of “challenging” trading conditions as fewer shoppers visited its stores. That pattern was borne out by figures from the retail research group Springboard which showed the number of shopper visiting the high street fell by 3.2% last month.
