High Street Businesses Grapple with Economic Fluctuations

Retailers on high streets are encountering “a lot of ups and downs” due to the ongoing cost of living crisis and declining sales, according to business owners in Berkshire. National sales saw a 5.8% decrease in November, as reported by BDO’s most recent High Street Sales Tracker. Chris Wiid, co-owner of Characters Cafe in Wokingham, noted that even with an increase in customers, the period remains challenging. He stated, “You can’t plot trends anymore.” Mr. Wiid added, “We’ve picked up on customer flow but you can see that there’s a lot of people that would rather get on a train and go into the major cities to be able to complete all the shopping.” Becky Ottery, proprietor of Eclectic Games in Reading, observed a shift in customer spending patterns, with consumers preferring more affordable board games over “big ticket” items. She commented, “People just do not have quite as much money to spend.” Ms. Ottery projected that the majority of her business growth in the coming year would stem from her games nights rather than merchandise sales. She explained, “That is much more within my control.” She further elaborated, “I’m able to set their prices as opposed to being beholden to a recommended retail price or anything like that.” Mr. Wiid additionally stated that businesses must enhance their service offerings to attract customers away from online retail. He advised, “You’ve got to be able to think out of the box, add special things in or different things that the rest of the people aren’t doing.” Data from BDO indicated that national retail sales reached their lowest point since January 2021. The tracker monitors sales from approximately 10,000 individual high street stores to provide insight into prevailing trading conditions. Professor Steve Musson, an economic geographer at the University of Reading, suggested that financial constraints are probably influencing the shift in consumer conduct. He remarked, “Sometimes at Christmas you might buy things that you don’t buy in the rest of the year and it’s a time where you can really notice that prices have gone up over the last year.” He continued, “Lots of businesses will be dependent on the run up to Christmas to make their profits for the year.” Professor Musson concluded, “As a consequence, anything that might affect consumer confidence or people going out wanting to shop this time of year is a huge concern for retailers.” For updates, BBC Berkshire can be followed on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.