London 2012 dented retail sales - MyFinances.co.uk

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London 2012 dented retail sales

The British Retail Consortium says that retail sales fell by 0.4 per cent in August as the feelgood factor from the London Olympics failed to inspire consumers to spend.

Official data shows that retail sales increased by 0.3 per cent month-on-month but that the London Olympic Games gave no major boost to consumer spending in July.

Thursday, 20 September 2012 11:52

Retail sales declined in August as the nation tuned into the biggest sporting spectacle to ever hit the UK, the London 2012 Olympics.

Sales volumes fell by 0.2 per cent in August, contributing to an annual rise of 2.7 per cent, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The monthly drop in sales was less than analysts expected with the median prediction being of a 0.4 per cent monthly drop.

However, the drop in sales sounds the death knell to the view that the Olympics would provide a short-term boost to the economy.

Howard Archer, from forecasters IHS Global Insight said: "The August retail sales indicate that for all its many virtues, the Olympic Games appears to have hindered rather than helped retail sales.”

It provided a short-term boost to jobs and the fact that the ticket sales (that were bought some time ago) will be accounted for in the third quarter may help GDP, but the London Olympic Games were so compelling they stopped people going out shopping.

Anecdotal evidence showed that the warning of travel disruption in London during the Olympics discouraged shoppers and also workers from travelling into the capital with a subsequent negative impact on trade.

They even stopped people staying in and shopping according to the ONS data. Online sales figures had their worst monthly performance for more than five years as people tuned into the sporting action rather than go shopping online.

Online sales fell by 6.7 per cent compared to July – the biggest monthly decline since December 2007.

Commentary from the ONS said: "Feedback from online retailers suggests that sales were lower as consumers watched the Olympics instead of shopping online.”

However, there was a boost to sales from the overall impact of the sporting summer with retailers reporting a rise in sales of sports equipment, football shirts and other sporting goods.

On a quarterly basis retail sales rose by 0.6 per cent between June and August compared to the previous three months.

UK consumers have faced the worst squeeze on disposable income since the great depression of the 1930’s as inflation has outpaced wage increases for the last three years, energy prices have increased by 60 per cent in the last five years and petrol prices have hit a new record high.

According to Mr Archer, this is unlikely to ease.  He said: Hopes that the squeeze on consumers’ purchasing power would ease markedly further over the latter months of 2012 are waning.

"In particular, a move back up in petrol prices, rising utility bills and the possibility of higher food prices (partly due to the drought in the US) will limit any further falls in consumer price inflation in the near term and could even see it move back up.”

Sleeping Dogs dominates sales of UK - PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 - news 2D

September 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Sleeping Dogs ha domina por segunda semana consecutiva las ventas del Reino Unido en cuanto a software de videojuegos de PC, Xbox 360 y PS3, entre otras.

Sorprendente o no, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 acaba segundo, adelanta así a LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes y como no, a New Super Mario Bros 2 y al quinto que sigue siendo ” London 2012: The Official Video Game de SEGA.

FIFA 12 cae enormemente, al número 19, con la salida de FIFA 13 que está a la vuelta de la esquina y preferiblemente va a ser el mejor de todos los tiempos viendo lo visto.

Lista de los 20 juegos más vendidos: – tras el salto -

1. Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix)
2. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Namco Bandai)
3. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Warner Bros)
4. New Super Mario Bros 2 (Nintendo)
5. London 2012: The Official Video Game (Sega)
6. The Sims 3: Supernatural (EA)
7. Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft)
8. Dead Island GOTY Edition (Koch)
9. NHL 13 (EA)
10. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar)
11. Madden NFL 13 (EA)
12. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Warner Bros)
13. Mario & Sonic and the London 2012 Olympic Games (Sega)
14. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
15. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Ubisoft)
16. Spec Ops: The Line (2K Games)
17. Darksiders II (THQ)
18. The Amazing Spider-Man (Activision)
19. FIFA 12 (EA)
20. Sniper Elite v2 (505 Games).

London 2012 allows some Sunday nationals to increase sales - The Guardian

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ABC figures show that Sunday papers may not have set the world on fire, but most increased sales during London 2012. Photograph: Hou Jun/Xinhua/Corbis

The majority of UK's national Sunday newspapers bucked the trend of traditional August circulation declines with modest month-on-month gains on the back of the Olympics coverage.

Among the small increases reported by the papers, the Sunday Mirror was among the biggest winners recording a 2.16% increase on the previous month. Sales increased to 1,101,206 in August from July's figure of 1,077, 882, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Friday.

The Independent on Sunday was also up month-on-month, by 4.16% on July's figure of 118,759 to record a circulation in August of 123,696 copies. Traditionally, the holiday month of August is when circulation slips as readers break their normal newspaper reading routines and go on holiday.

National newspaper websites will also be expecting a more hefty traffic boost when ABC figures for August are published later this month.

In August, the Sunday Telegraph was up 1.59% month-on-month to 463,733, while the Observer reported a 0.47% gain to record a 246,245 circulation last month, up on July's figure of 245,094.

Among the mid-market titles, the Sunday Express increased sales 0.48% month-on-month to 505,900 from 503,492 in July; while rival title the Mail on Sunday increased its circulation month on month by 1.8% from 1,779,449 in July to 1,811,463.

Taken year on year, however, the picture for the Sunday redtop and mid-market sectors looked bleaker, with all five titles bar the Sunday edition of the Sun reporting sizeable drops, reflecting how the circulation gains made last summer as a consequence of closure of the News of the World in July were subsequently wiped out.

Year-on-year, the Daily Star Sunday was down 40.99%, the Sunday Mirror down 42.06% and the People down 48.66%.

The Sunday Express was down 25.36% year on year, while the Mail on Sunday was down 13.67%.

All the quality Sunday title's were also down year on year, although the declines were generally less severe than among the tabloids.

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UK: Olympics fail to boost August retail sales - just-style.com

The Olympics failed to boost UK retailers in August as consumers stayed at home in order to watch the games, figures showed today (4 September) - leading to one of the worst sales months this year.

Like-for-like sales fell 0.4% in value terms during August, compared with the same month in 2011, according to the BRC/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. Total sales increased 1.6% over the month.

"There's no evidence here of any Olympic boost to retail sales overall. Sadly, apart from April - distorted by Easter timings - August saw the worst sales growth this year," said BRC director general Stephen Robertson.

"Hot weather and the Olympics did help sales of party food and drink but that was more than offset by a really weak performance for non-food goods.

"It's clear people were absorbed by the magnificent Olympics and had little interest in shopping, especially for major items. Usually-reliable online sales suffered, putting in the worst sales growth since we started the measure four years ago.

"Some retailers told us online activity was particularly thin in the evenings. If people weren't watching television they were more likely to be following the sport on PCs and mobile devices than shopping."

Between June and August, sales increased 0.4% on a like-for-like basis, with non-food rising 0.2%. On a total basis, total sales rose 2.5%, while non-food sales increased 1.6%.

BRC senior analyst Anne Alexandre said that fashion had a "very unusual and disappointing month" in August.

"While men's wear posted a relatively good performance with sports/London 2012 lines doing well and new season items also in demand, women's wear failed to attract customers to autumn/winter ranges.

"New full-price collections were generally available from mid-August but a combination of warm weather, decreased London footfall due to the Olympics, later holidays, an early Eid compared with last year and later back-to-school dates resulted in very weak sales.

"Marked-down summer season items like swimwear were still popular - sales continued longer than planned for some retailers - which in combination squeezed margins significantly," Alexandre said.

Meanwhile, footwear, which has been the top performing category since the beginning of the year, kept the top slot in August - although this time it was led by women's rather than men's footwear.

"The unsettled weather meant transitional products did well but there was demand across the board from boots to sandals.

"London stores suffered from lower footfall due to the Olympics but that was offset by better sales in greater London. Online continued to grow - with some retailers offering new services - albeit with many more visits than actual purchases," said Alexandre.