Retail sales down by 1.9%, record lost since 1995

"No dip in sales here!"

The British Retail Consortium’s latest Retail Sales Monitor shows a dramatic fall in retail sales values for March this year compared with March 2010. “Total sales are down by 1.9%, the worst fall since we started collecting these figures in 1995” sums up the institution. In an article for Sky News, the British Retail Consortium explains how low consumer confidence has affected retailers and highlights a sad record: retail sales have registered the steepest fall for 16 years.

I'd hazard a guess that they may be one of  the worst ever. I don't take 1995 as a year to gauge "since records began" by. That's only 15 years. The difficulty for retailers is that they are in a double bind. They've got choosy customers on the one hand and ever eager price hikers in the likes of China and India. The latter have got most of the manufacturing of retail products so can get graspy when they want to and customers are drawing their horns in. Not a recipe for a winning set of results.

Somehow the British Retail Consortium needs to figure out a way to make money that isn't fueled by the funny stuff the banks were creating. Quantitative easing is no answer. We all need to get a grip and not be so wasteful and wanting of bargains and bonanzas. Local produce sold locally,. Why not take the Morrisons "High Street" idea a bit further and allow small businesses to operate within large supermarkets? We need ideas to ponder, not doom and gloom statistics.

Kangaroo courts on our high streets?

Shoplifting is a petty crime that is far from petty. It is estimated that it costs £1 billion a year. Some is done by organised gangs, some by desperate drug users, and some by cash-strapped folk just at their wits end. Not right in any case. However, there are instances where innocent mistakes occur. When these happen it is no longer a case of understanding the situation, but keeping to a prescribed set of rules, many times draconian in nature, and literally getting a profit out error.

I am disturbed by the antics of an organisation called Retail Loss Prevention. Its managing director, Jackie Lambert, says, "Many thieves are not prosecuted in the criminal courts. Retailers are increasingly having to take responsibility themselves to redress this balance”. What she doesn't say is that she puts in a tidy profit and is keen to see even innocent people pay 100% for her work. This is rather like a losing side in a court battle demanding costs as of right. A sort of loser takes all. She implies that no defence can be mounted, the word of the store is paramount and that she is the queen bee of all matters arising.

This is not justice. This is just Ms Lambert setting up a business where she knows she will make money regardless of the legalities of the situation. The police are now concerned. Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas, of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), says: "Some retailers feel frustrated by the courts and the police who see shoplifting at the lower end of offending, and we support their efforts to remedy that, but the problem comes when some companies respond disproportionately. It would be wholly inappropriate if individuals were being brow beaten into an admission of guilt."

I do hope Ms Lambert doesn't condone browbeating. It's kind of medieval. Has she watched Garrow's Law? Maybe she thinks deportation is a possibility? I can only think that her organisation is primarily concerned with making money. If a shoplifter is bang to rights, let the courts decide. I would suggest anyone who feels framed should put up a fight. Anyone who has made an honest mistake, like the one in this BBC report, should not be browbeaten into paying "fines" to Ms Lambert and her organisation.

We have a justice system. It may be creaking but we fought hard and long for it. I for one don't like kangaroo courts. They should be a thing of the past.

"Christmas is over!" Or is it?

On Christmas Eve I was toying with the idea of getting a last minute gift. I went to the retail park and thought I'd pop into Homebase. The store looked rather unlit for the season. A man was standing outside, as if on guard. "Oh, are you closing?" I ventured. "Yeah, well, er, what do you want? Do you know exactly?" "Yes, yes!" I said,. "Well, in that case, be quick". I then added some remark about them closing earlier than the other stores. "Christmas is over!" he muttered. "Oh?" I said, "Whatever happened to the Twelve Days of Christmas?". He looked at me darkly.

Retailing used to comprehend Christmas. Then it became much more of Christmas-in-Advent. Woolworths was the first store in Britain to abandon the season of Christmas. Now look where they are. All the supermarkets get agitated on the 25th September. This is the date when the Christmas season starts for them. Forget about sell-by-dates. You can have five before Christmas Day if you are keen on mince pies. When questioned about the fact that they were stuffing shelves with Christmas fayre three months before the day, supermarket spokespersons blithely replied that customers liked a treat in advance. No wonder people have given up on Christmas come Boxing Day. They've been given too much beforehand.

Retailing is a vital element in our lives. We need retailers to sell us things that we require. But do we need to be so gullible, so easily led? Can we not enjoy Christmas when it comes, whether or not we are religiously minded? I have a fear that retailing may be the last chink to fly loose. We have surrended our manufacturing capabilities. We do have inventiveness, but that is sold to the Chinese and others. I bought a pair of decent pyjamas at Asda yesterday for £6. How much went to the Sri Lankan worker I do not know, but I hazard a guess it was not much. I'm pleased I got them, but I am getting a bit of a conscience twinge. Some tell me that there's not much I can do about it, apart from not buying things. But how can I do that when so much (probably everything) in superstores is made overseas?

At one time it was only MFI that had continual sales (except when they had promotions!) and MFI is now in retailing oblivion. Retailers are mixing "driving down costs" "tax increases" and "Made in China" into a potent concoction. How cheap everything can get is far from certain. Even before Christmas shops were offering "massive discounts" that one wondered if the New Year might see them in receivership. Price rises must surely come about just to keep businesses afloat. But that may well be where the trouble begins. It's all very well having stuff made in China, but if the Chinese workers feel they are the ones getting a raw deal, costs there will increase. And workers in the UK, Europe, USA, et al in the West will also clamour for better conditions.

Maybe British retailers should take a step back and look at things long term. For instance, does it make sense to spend so much carting apples around the world when they can be grown a few miles from the local shops? And is the quality of the fruit worth it all. We just got some strawberries which have the texture of apples. Why have these soft fruits got hard centres? Oh, and we bought a load of green bananas as they passed their sell-by-date. Does any of it make sense?

Stores need to be reborn themselves. Otherwise we may all go down, fighting over the last remnants in the penny bazaars!

Sweatshop workers exposed in Manchester!

The BBC has uncovered exploitation of workers, minimum wage abuse and the employment of illegal workers. Two companies, TNS Knitwear and Fashion Waves have been caught out. Both deny any wrongdoing, but the evidence would appear to be against them.

The companies make cheap clothing for Primark. They are aghast at the position! No doubt an investigation will take place into the importation of third world practices into Manchester's business community.

As Neil Kearney, of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, says , It is a total scandal. This is the importation of third world working conditions into Europe and in this case into the UK. There's no such thing as cheap clothing, somebody has to pay and in this case it's the workers in Manchester who pay." Perhaps Primark could explain things to us?

Ten big businesses hanging on the wall!

It is predicted by an insolvency expert that there are more than 10 national or regional retail chains that are at risk of going bust next month. The warning comes from Nick Hood, a partner at Begbies Traynor. "Not a lot of them are profitable because of the discounting at a time when they would normally generate all their profits for the year," he said.

Who they are we are not told, of course. That would be reckless in the extreme. However, the problem here is not that these businesses are necessarily unpopular with their customers, rather that the banks are not willing to support them as they did.

It seems that the businesses will drop off the wall one by one. Who is singing the song? It seems those that started this mess are the ones who have a certain amount to gain from the demise of those going to the wall and falling off it!

The Sadness of Woolies!

Woolworths is in administration. It's a terrible end to a once mighty name of the British high street. However, it might not be over. It has been said that Dragon's Den star, Theo Paphitis has an interest, but that Deloittes won't deal. If anyone can turn the ship around he has the best chance. Let's see what happens in the New Year with the business. I hope its a case of victors not vultures!

I was in the Solihull branch of Woolworths yesterday. All very sad. Demoralised staff - "We don't know anything" - and a couple of trousered policewomen watching the punters - and the customers behaving in part as if they were bit players in Survivors. Two things came to mind. First I thought, why do corporate bosses, now the accountants, never give proper instructions to staff. A simple straightforward message is all that is required. Just as Stansted Airport bosses yesterday were apparently mute with passengers, Woolies staff get to know only what drops from the boardroom table.

The second was that a fine name in toys could go down the pan too. Chad Valley Toys have been going for nearly two hundred years. This is a Brummie business. The Chad is a stream in Harborne, Birmingham. Hence the name. Chad Valley toys were in every toy shop when I was young. Woolworths bought the brand and had toys made for them. Will we see Chad Valley Toys re-emerging from all this? I wonder.

Another thing for the memory. Every Woolies own brand product used to carry the Winfield name. It was a smart move in that most people thought it had nothing to do with Woolworhs. It came from Frank's middle name. He was a man who wanted his name to live on. He had the Woolworth Building erected in New York City. In Britain it used to be "nothing over 6d", which tells you how far inflation has gone! It was the UK version of a five and dime store.

Now we wait and see. Will Woolworths make the century, or is a case of 99 years and out?