{"id":71280,"date":"2021-11-04T09:52:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T09:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=71280"},"modified":"2021-11-04T09:52:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T09:52:16","slug":"britain-powers-back-to-become-fourth-largest-watch-market-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/britain-powers-back-to-become-fourth-largest-watch-market-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain powers back to become fourth largest watch market in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"
The total value of watch sales in the UK had already risen to above pre-pandemic 2019 levels by the summer of this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the months since, sales have continued to rise with September’s figure, supplied to WATCHPRO by GfK 12.9%, higher than the same month last year.<\/p>\n Going back two months to July, alone, the total value of watch sales in Great Britain was 34% higher in 2021 than in the same month in 2019.<\/p>\n The sharp drop in sales during the first wave and lock down in 2020 is dwarfed by the huge spike since spring this year.<\/p>\n The rise in revenue is still being driven by customers paying higher average prices so that, while the value of sales rose by 12.9% in September, the volume of sales fell by 5.9%.<\/p>\n The average transaction value in September was 20% higher than the same month last year.<\/p>\n For the year to date, average transaction values are up 55%.<\/p>\n There are early signs of the market cooling for the most expensive watches since the summer \u2014 perhaps a sign that pent up demand after lock downs is being satiated.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Sales for watches priced at over \u00a310,000 have risen by over 75% since the beginning of 2021, but for September the year on year increase was clipped to just 6%.<\/p>\n The market for watches in the \u00a33,000 to \u00a310,000 price bracket is now growing fastest in Britain at around 25% YoY in September.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Footfall across all UK shopping destinations recovered to just 10.9% below 2019 levels over half term for much of the country last week, according to Springboard data.<\/p>\n This increase in physical shopping is feeding through to online watch sales dropping towards pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n