Covid: Scottish retailers 'in daily fight for survival'

Scottish retailers are facing a daily fight for survival as tighter Covid restrictions and economic uncertainty exert a "vice-like grip", according to an industry body.

The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) warning came as new figures indicated a further steep decline in sales.

Last month, SRC found total sales fell year-on-year by 8.5%, dragged down by a 19.3% slump in non-food sales.

The food category was up by 4.4% in October.

It was the weakest performance since the lockdown ended in June.

The figures come a day after SRC described plans to introduce Scotland's toughest Covid restrictions on 11 Scottish local authorities as a "hammer blow".

The move will see "non-essential" shops, as well as pubs, restaurants and gyms in those areas, shuttered for three weeks.

The retail consortium's report for October suggested convenience stores benefited from tighter restrictions on eating out, while sales of electronics, household goods and home office products remained high as many office workers opted to stay home.

It also found "some signs" of early festive shopping, particularly for Christmas decorations and gifting.

However, store-based sales in other non-food categories continued to slump.

Beauty and fashion fared particularly poorly, with SRC citing greater restrictions on social occasions for "draining away" demand for more formal wear.

SRC director David Lonsdale said: "Retail sales in Scotland have still to emerge from the pandemic-induced funk, after eight months, deeply concerning at what is for many stores the start of the all-important festive period."

He added: "Businesses which were perfectly healthy at the start of the year are now struggling with circumstances beyond their control, and the fight for survival couldn't be more intense for some."

Paul Martin, UK Head of Retail for KPMG, said retailers were facing "a daily fight for survival".

He added: "Shifting consumer behaviour, driven by Brexit and Covid-19 uncertainty, is having an unprecedented impact on Scotland's retail industry.

"We're just a week away from Black Friday and in the middle of the so-called 'Golden Quarter', when the sector typically witnesses its biggest gains.

"This winter, to simply survive, retailers will have to double down on innovative strategies, pivot towards profitable online revenue growth and work even harder to tempt some shoppers back to physical retail spaces."