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Small Business Strategy Inquiry 2025 - ACT and Bira call for members to share their voice

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on... Read more…

Beyond the discount: Restoring integrity to the cycle supply chain

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.
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Bira welcomes Wales' business rates proposals but calls for key improvements

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street... Read more…

New awards launch to champion Britain's independent high street heroes

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring... Read more…

"Tectonic shift" in employment law threatens independent retailer viability, warns Bira podcast

6 Jun 2025

Independent retailers are facing a "generational" transformation of employment law that could fundamentally change how small businesses operate, according to the final episode of Bira's first... Read more…

Retailers hope warm weather and bank holidays will boost high street sales

16 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has said that members are hopeful the warm weather, Easter weekend and upcoming bank holidays will provide a much-needed boost to high street sales.
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Economic growth surges to 0.7%, but "April reality check" looms for high street retailers

15 May 2025

UK economy delivers strongest quarterly performance in a year despite forecasts of business downturn.
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Communities come together for Local Bike Shop Day 2025 celebrations

13 May 2025

Local Bike Shop Day 2025 brought a wave of... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira welcomes Bank of England's latest interest rate cut

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has welcomed the Bank of England's decision to reduce interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25%, calling it a "much-needed boost" for the retail sector, including for cycling... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira responds to Beales' "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" as iconic store makes final protest

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has responded to the news that the 144-year-old Beales department store is staging a "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" in its final weeks of trading, with giant yellow... Read more…

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3rd of sales took place online on Black Friday, this isn't a positive

Posted on in Business News

British Retail Consortium (BRC) figures show that 33.8% of non-food retail sales took place online during the November month, this is up by 1.2% from last year. These figures represent an all-time high for retail sales taking place online.

November 2018:

"Cemented Black Friday as an increasingly digital event, with a record one-in-every-three-products of non-food purchases made online during this month".

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.

Black Friday week this year was bigger than last year.

online sales 

But, despite this being the highest month for online retail sales, ecommerce sales only grew slightly. Last November the growth of online sales of non-food products grew by 6.5%, however, this November the online sales only grew by 2.9%.

Not only this, like-for-like sales were down by 0.5% whereas, a year ago they were up by 0.6%.

Sales growth in November fell to its lowest rate in seven years.

BRC puts this down to the tough conditions following the decision to leave the EU in 2016 and the weakening consumer demand and falling confidence.

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