The British watch market is enduring one of its longest periods of contraction in a decade as cooling sales since May last year have stretched into the new year.
Sales fell by 6.7% year-on-year for the month of February, the latest in a 10-month run of negative growth.
February’s figure reflects weakness in the wider retail economy. UK total retail sales increased by 1.1% year-on-year in February, below the 3-month average growth of 1.4% and below the 12-month average growth of 3.1%.
The watch industry will be hoping that a change in the weather as we come into March will lead to a bit of catch-up spending after the country endured twice the expected rainfall in January and February.
People staying dry at home were not turning to online shopping for watches to kill time. Ecommerce has been in steady decline since 2020 but has slumped in recent months.
For February, alone, online sales dropped by almost 14%, and last year’s performance was hardly a high bar.
A spike in sales of the most expensive watches last year may turn out to be the final hurrah for people shopping with money that might otherwise have been spent on other treats like overseas holidays.
The top end of the market for watches priced between £5,000 and £10,000, and those costing over £10,000 remains the healthiest segment of the market, but growth has all-but evaporated and all price-points are now in negative territory.
There is little difference between growth within Greater London and the rest of the country over the past year, but the regions have been contracting less quickly than the capital since the start of the year.
