It’s disturbing how you lose track of time and significant events during this pandemic.
I was only reminded of how tough restrictions where in the run up to Christmas last year when I received the GfK figures for November this year, which show a surge of sales in physical retail stores and a decline in ecommerce.
You have to go back to November 2020 to see why. I searched the government website for how restrictions stood that month, and discovered that the hard lock down last winter was announced on October 31.
“With the NHS weeks from being overwhelmed, and a higher death toll than the first wave predicted without new restrictions, the Prime Minister, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Advisor, and Cabinet agreed there was no alternative to tougher national measures,” the government announced.
“From Thursday 5 November, everyone must stay at home, and may leave only for a limited set of reasons,” the statement continued as all non essential retailers were told to close their doors.
That shut down a year ago must be taken into account when assessing this year’s stronger than expected results for November.
The value of all sales in Great Britain surged by 50.2%, a dramatic increase on October’s 6.5% growth.
That growth came from physical store sales because online business declined by 13.2%.
You can see the physical store growth in the regional breakdown. Sales in London, which exclude ecommerce, rose by 75.9% while the total was up by 72.9% outside the capital.
The average price paid for each watch was 30% up in November, but this measure is starting to plateau. Prices have risen by over 50% over the past year.
The great spike in sales of the most expensive watches came in May of this year, when the value of watches priced at over £10,000 rose by over 3,000% while sales rose at a much lower rate for less expensive pieces.
