Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wedding expected to give UK retail a boost

“We have real earnings growth coupled with a royal wedding and two bank holidays around the corner. Maybe with the right weather, the combination of these factors could be just the boost retailers have been hoping for,” says the head of retail and wholesale at BDO, Sophie Michael, in a recent report.

BDO, an accountancy and business advisory firm, said that retailers were now pinning their hopes for this month on a “much-needed spark to consumer confidence” from the two bank holidays and the royal wedding.

Retailers expect the royal wedding boost their sales

According to the retail consultancy firm, retailers are hoping that the royal wedding and the coming bank holidays will boost their sales after experiencing their seventh month in a row without notable growth.

“There are some encouraging signs that could provide a much-needed spark to consumer confidence,” added BDO’s analyst.

“But retailers must find ways to turn the shopper feel-good factor into sales of full-price lines.

“Chances to protect margins are few and far between, so its vital stores steer shoppers away from the discount rail by providing an appealing product range and a distinctive shopping experience.”

The BDO High Street Sales Tracker shows how unseasonal weather and poor sales in Easter turned into a 3.8 percent retailers’ sales decrease on a year-on-year basis in April. In fact, April is the seventh consecutive month where the like-for-like sales have failed to improve at all. Like-for-like sales for fashion declined by 3.3 percent.

On the upside, online fashion sales grew strongly, adding 25.4 percent year on year, outpacing the overall online growth of 16.4 percent. The head of retail and wholesale at BDO, Sophie Michael, stated: “After another set of poor results, it’s perhaps time for retailers to seek out emerging positive trends on which to reignite consumer spending.

Image: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Christmas Day 2017, Mark Jones, Flickr