Strong demand helps boost hight street sales

High street sales jumped last week, research showed on Friday, despite the cost of living crisis continuing to weigh heavily on the UK.

According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, like-for-like sale rose 11.3% in the week to 5 March, boosted by strong demand both in-store and online.

Non-store underlying sales saw the largest increase since the last week of June 2022, up 10.74%, while in-store sales jumped 10.76%.

Driving demand were lifestyle goods, with sales up 12.02%, followed by homewares, ahead 11.42%, and fashion, up 10.09%.

Overall footfall grew by 6.9% compared to the equivalent week in 2022.

Growth may be curtailed this week, however, after a severe cold snap - including freezing temperatures and snow - hit large swathes of the country. BDO noted that during the same week last year, the UK enjoyed much milder weather.