Summer sales come early to the high street
Updated on 07 July 2009
Britain's high street went on sale 10 days earlier than it did last year, according to research seen by Channel 4 News.
The figures, compiled by a team of researchers from the consultancy firm Ernst & Young, are based on thousands of hours spent visiting stores and collecting data about retailer's sales activities.
The research suggests that shops are discounting slightly more than last year, by around 1 per cent.
That is less deep than the Christmas sales, which were between 3 per cent and 4 per cent deeper than Christmas the year before.
But that is partly because the Christmas sales season is much shorter, and therefore sharper.
Retail executives are usually quite sensitive about revealing information about their sales, it is commercially very sensitive intelligence, but Selfridges, which started 10 days early, did agree to discuss the issue with News at Noon.
Sue West, the chain's director of retail operations, downplayed the significance of the early start.
She said: "Our consideration is as much about getting new season out to the customers as early as possible, over and above any other reason. And that seems to be what the customers are demanding - newness, newness, newness."
Of course, every retailer's reasons for going on sale are different. In some cases, unlike Selfridges, it can be a crisis measure, a response to poor sales.
But across the high street, strong and weak retailers alike are keen to tempt customers into spending more of their spare cash.
Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium said: "Summer sales are starting a little earlier, a week or two earlier than last year and that is because of enthusiasm [from retailers] to get strong summer trading under their belts. There is no doubt about it, the times remain very difficult, particularly for the non-food retailers.
Jason Gordon, who leads the team at Ersnt & Young which conducted the research, believes that one of the big reasons behind early discounting is not struggling stores, but the fact that customers actually have extra cash to spend.
He says that despite the recession, the average household has around £200 a month more to spend than they did last year, largely as a result of low interest rates.
He added: "Having identified there is this extra disposable income available, retailers are undoubtedly trying tempt people into the stores."
However, bargain hunters may find that things don't stay their way for long. Many economists are predicting increases in the cost of imported goods because of the weak pound, and the temporary VAT rate of 15 per cent will go back up to 17.5 per cent at the start of next year.
So retailers are keen to do as much business as they can while the sun shines.
