Heat wave and World Cup drive down high street sales

• Like-for-like retail sales barely grew at just +0.6% in June compared to the same month last year
• This is substantially below inflation, meaning sales volumes fell in June
• Lifestyle and fashion sectors performed particularly poorly

 

Total like-for-like sales in discretionary categories grew by just +0.6% in June compared to the same month last year, according to the latest High Street Sales Tracker from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. With sales growth below the rate of inflation, meaning volumes have fallen, this marks a return to the poor performance that has typified this year’s high street sales.

While online like-for-like sales performed positively, increasing by +6.9% compared to the same month last year, in-store sales grew by just +1.4%,* a disappointing performance that suggests the significant growth recorded in May was a temporary blip rather than the beginning of a sustained run of positive sales on the high street. Sales in the lifestyle category fell by -0.3% in June, and fashion sales grew by just +0.7% compared to June 2025.

Sophie Michael, Head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO, commented: “The widely held expectation is often that big sporting events like the World Cup and Olympics will encourage consumers to start splashing the cash, but our data shows quite the opposite. This isn’t a new phenomenon; if we look back at High Street Sales Tracker data from the 2018 World Cup, sales growth was also nearly flat at +0.4% in the month it started, and looking further back at the London 2012 Olympics, sales on the high street actually declined by -0.5% during the event.

“The World Cup may provide a welcome catalyst for increased spending in hospitality where growth has been particularly needed, but these events often come at the expense of other discretionary retail sectors, as consumers redirect their purse to leisure spending while watching the games.

“Retailers also had to contend with the effects of the very hot weather we saw in June. Such extreme weather conditions significantly impact footfall. With more heat waves predicted in the coming weeks, retailers will no doubt be concerned that persistent very hot weather throughout the summer months could become a regular drag on their sales in bricks-and-mortar stores in this key trading period.

“We noted in May that the surprisingly positive sales growth we saw then may not be sustainable, and that with consumers having held back on discretionary spending in previous months, May was likely to have been a blip. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case, with sales sliding back to being flat and volumes therefore falling. The major challenges facing retailers remain, including higher cost bases and increased energy prices, and are now combined with the current political uncertainty which may also be weighing on consumers’ willingness to spend in discretionary categories.”

*Retailers that contribute to the HSST may have both online and bricks-and-mortar operations or operate exclusively online or on the high street. This means that the total like-for-like sales figure is not an average of the store and non-store figures, and can at times be greater than, and sometimes less than either the store or non-store totals.
 

ENDS

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