According to Savills research, the biggest sales growth in UK shopping centres in the first half of 2015 was seen by Sporting Goods. Sales were up by 12.2 per cent from January to June – nearly twice the growth of the next best category, Opticians, which saw sales rises of 6.3 per cent*.

The figures reflect the fact that the UK is becoming a more active nation. Sportswear has also become increasingly fashionable, with collaborations between the big sports brands and fashion designers and celebrities: Adidas with Kanye West and Nike with Sacai, for example.

Jewellery brands continued their strong performance from Q1 2015 with 5.7 per cent growth – H Samuel and Ernest Jones recently repored their biggest like-for-like sales increase in 13 years.This shows that consumers are still willing to pay for higher value items where good range and service are provided.

In other sectors Menswear performed best in the Clothing categories, with a 4.3 per cent increase, while Food & Beverage also remained strong with a 4.1 per cent increase. Sales of Electricals have shown the biggest decline of 10.7 per cent over the 12-month period to June, which may be due to increased competition from online.

It is worth noting that although car park usage was down over the first six months of this year, income from parking was actually up by 1.9 per cent, which suggests fewer shopping trips but longer dwell time, perhaps due to more considered purchasing. However, on a general level, falling oil prices coupled with wage rises have not led to the expected significant sales growth, and retailers as well as shopping centre owners need to be constantly looking at ways to increase footfall and sales growth as well as dwell time.

*Figures are based on over 1,000 pieces of turnover data collected monthly across over 40 shopping centres, managed by Savills, in a number of locations across the UK.

Further information

For more details, contact Savills Retail & Leisure Management.