LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Heavy discounting by Britain's
retailers has failed to boost shopper numbers and the rate of
business failures in the industry is accelerating, surveys by
researchers Experian showed.
The Experian Retail FootFall Index fell 0.9 percent in
November, compared with the same month last year, led by a 5
percent drop in Scotland and also including a 1.3 percent
increase in the south east of England.
"From a UK wide perspective, it seems efforts at deep
discounting have failed to attract significant shopper numbers
into the stores," said Jonathan De Mello, director of retail
consultancy at Experian.
"The spectacular events held at the end of the month
provided some spikes in shopper numbers but levels have quickly
dropped back."
Most of Britain's big store groups have held discount days
or announced big promotions in recent weeks as they seek to lure
shoppers worried about a recession and rising unemployment.
The pain has been too much for some, with the retail chain
of sweets-to-DVDs group Woolworths and furniture group MFI both
calling in administrators last week.
Experian said business failures in the sector were up 18
percent in the last 12 months and now totalled 1,017 non-food
retailers.
The rate of retail business failure was also accelerating,
rising by 21 percent in November for non-food retailers and by
50 percent for food retailers, it said.
Cash-strapped shoppers are also spending more time looking
for bargains online, Internet research company Hitwise, an
Experian company, said.
UK Internet searches for discount vouchers have increased by
133 percent over the last 12 months, while visits to voucher
websites have gone up by 45 percent, Hitwise said.
"A whole online sector has emerged to feed British
consumers' hunger for discount vouchers for everything from
supermarket shopping and pizzas to discounts at high-end
department stores," said Hitwise director of research Robin
Goad.
(Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by Andrew Macdonald)
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