New West End Company

August 17 2010

New West End Company, which represents retailers on Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, have reported a +9.6% year-on-year increase in sales for the month of July. This strong showing is against a relatively flat result of 0.5% across the rest of the UK, according to retail trackers Springboard.

These encouraging figures, which represent non-food sales in London’s West End, received a much welcomed boost from international shoppers, including the sustained presence of pre-Ramadan shoppers from the Middle East.

Says Jace Tyrrell, spokesperson for New West End Company, “With Ramadan arriving ten days earlier this year, our July sales figures have been jacked up by international shoppers. This has compensated for a sluggish domestic market due to fears over VAT and low consumer confidence. Key markets in the Middle East, have delivered a significant boost with spend across both high street brands and luxury retailers. Global Blue analysts report that the UAE and Saudi Arabia saw a 50% and 51% rise respectively. However, with the British Summer Holidays in full swing, and the start of Ramadan, we do not expect these benefits to continue through August.”

Nigel Dasler VP of Global Blue UK, which manages in excess of 38,000 shopper transactions worldwide every day, says: “International sales in the West End were bullish during July with oil rich countries outperforming initial year-on-year sales predictions. Developing markets such as Bahrain saw an astounding 154% increase and Qatar was also up 87%. Influential markets such as Russia were 77% ahead of last July’s sales with China posting a 135% year-on-year increase. Emerging market Brazil also performed well with a 63% increase in sales.”