Almost two thirds of Britain’s watch and jewellery retailers enjoyed better sales in December 2017 than in the same month a year ago.
In a survey this week of WatchPro‘s retailer subscribers, 65% said that sales were up in December, with 27% reporting growth of more than 10% and 16% notching growth of 5-10%.
The WatchPro survey was completed by 37 retailers including major multiples and independents.
It appears that online sales have not risen as fast as some analysts would have expected, with 38% of retailers saying that online sales were flat compared to December 2016 and 8% reporting a fall of more than 5%.
54% of retailers said online sales had grown, with 35% saying growth was over 10%Â for entire month. This compares to 59% of businesses who said that in-store sales had grown in December; 24% of which said growth exceeded 10%.
More retailers reported growth in the weeks leading up to Christmas (76%) than in the post-Christmas sale period (67%).
Shoppers appeared to be just as willing to shop online in the run-up to Christmas as they were straight afterwards, with 51% of retailers saying online sales were up both before and after Christmas.
In-store shopping was considerably stronger before Christmas, with 69% of retailers recording growth compared to 56% of businesses saying sales were up in-store in the post-Christmas period.
The methodology WatchPro used does not allow us to break down the results by region or by whether retailers are operating in the luxury or value end of the market. Retailers were asked to say where they have stores, and which brands they stock, and this revealed a broad cross-section.
