Experian Reckons That 1600 UK Retailers Could Collapse

Yet another gloomy report on our papers.

• LONDON: About 1,600 UK retailers may go out of business this year as stores struggle to contend with a slumping consumer economy, Experian Ltd said yesterday.
  
  The number of collapses is set to increase 21 per cent from a year earlier, with sellers of electronics goods and household and home renovation products the worst affected, the researcher forecast in an e-mailed report. UK shopping numbers rose 1.2 per cent in January from a year earlier as retailers engaged in an "exceptional level of discounting," Experian also said.
  
  Footwear chain Barratts Shoes last week joined UK retailers Woolworths Group Plc, Zavvi Group, Land of Leather Holdings Plc and Adams Childrenswear Ltd that have collapsed after a slump in spending. UK consumer confidence fell close to a record low in January as the nation's recession deepened and more Britons lost their jobs, Gfk NOP said January 30.
  
  Any increase in store owners' sales last month was at the cost of lower profitability, as slashed prices and an increase in purchasing costs ate into margins, Experian said.
  
  "It seems unlikely that consumer sentiment will show much if any improvement in the first three months of 2009," said Experian senior economist Matthew Sherwood.
  
  "Forecasts of doom and gloom are becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, with retailers potentially facing their worst year in decades." - Bloomberg

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