Discount devastation as value stores to grab bigger chunk of UK sales - GlobalData

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 31, 2017

If UK fashion, beauty and homewares retailers are worried about competition from the discount sector now, they have a lot more to worry about in the next few years with a new report suggesting that the sector will see growth of 36% in just five years.

Research and analysis specialist GlobalData said Thursday that discount retailers will likely grab a further £9bn of consumer spend by 2022 and will reach a total value of £32.5 billion in the next half-decade.

It said that discounters will become more appealing destinations for consumers seeking bargains as inflation continues to squeeze their disposable income.

This will be good news for stores such as B&M Bargains, as well as supermarkets Aldi and Lidl that have both been ramping up their clothing offer in recent years (witness Lidl’s soon-to-launch Heidi Klum collaboration). Between them they have over a 70% chunk of the discount retail market.

But other chains focusing on low prices have also added to their fashion lines with the Poundland/Pep & Co combination being perhaps the best example of this.

Only this week we were told that the discount fashion chain has already closed 20 standalones out of its 60-store total as it opens Pep & Co areas inside Poundland locations. It plans to have 50 concessions open by October and a next-phase aim of 100 in total.

With more bargain-hunting consumers visiting stores like Poundland in the future, that fashion offer will be right in front of them, even if they hadn’t planned to buy any clothing on any particular shopping trip.

But even with such fashion developments, GlobalData said that DIY & gardening, health & beauty and homewares will deliver the biggest discount category growth.

It said that 89.4% of the UK population have shopped at a discounter in the last 12 months with food & grocery (F&G), non-discretionary household goods and health & beauty (H&B) the most popular product categories with shoppers.

The company said discounters have shown themselves to be expert at building sales of frequently purchased items “by changing the perception of discounter own label products…while at the same time undercutting mainstream retailers on branded items.”