Some Of U.K.’s Fashion Retail Centers, Outlets, Doing Fine Against Online Competition

Data from Kantar Worldpanel confirm that online shopping hasn’t wiped out the U.K.’s bricks-and-mortar fashion retail segment, though it has been a challenging sales and growth environment. Store sales overall have fallen 2.4 percent since 2017, but not every sector is suffering. Retail centers and outlets are outpacing the fashion market, growing as much as 3.5 percent. One reason is that fashion stores at retail parks are only competing with each another for spend rather than with restaurants, cinemas and home furnishing shops. Also, retail parks and outlets cater to value-sensitive shoppers looking for bargains, while the high street or shopping centers may not. The fastest-growing retailers in the top 10 fashion retailers in the U.K. are the value-based fashion retailers. The discounted market is growing at 5.1 percent compared to full-price sales growing 3.3 percent. [Image Credit: © VisitLondon.com]