Retail news round-up on April 22, 2014: Easter footfall drops year-on-year, Sofa.com appoints Altium Capital as it mulls sale, Click-and-collect growth to outpace home deliveries, and Morrisons boss Dalton Philips could receive £2.3m bonus

UK high street footfall numbers fall across Easter

According to Springboard data, footfall figures on UK high streets slumped by almost 11% on Easter Sunday (April 21) and just over 8% on Good Friday (April 18) in spite of much better weather than last year. Shopper numbers for the Easter weekend plunged by double digits year-on-year, The Telegraph reported. Footfall at shopping centres tumbled by 11.3% on Friday and 10.4% on Sunday itself as better weather meant shoppers wanted to enjoy the weather. The falls indicatates Britons are still “very nervous” about spending, according to Springboard marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle . However, the Easter Bank Holiday on Monday (April 21) propelled high street shopping up 10.2% and footfall at retail parks up nearly 23% year-on-year.

Sofa.com appoints Altium Capital to advise on possible sale

Online furniture retailer Sofa.com has tapped boutique investment bank Altium Capital to conduct a strategic review of the development options, The Sunday Telegraph reported. It is understood that the most likely outcome is sale to a private equity company, rather than an IPO. The sofa business saw sales surge 20% to £20.2m in the year to February 28, while adjusted earnings climbed 48% to £5.3m in the 12 months. Sofa.com is seeking to attract new investment after the sales increase.

Click-and-collect service to grow at faster pace than home delivery

According to OC&C figures, demand for goods ordered online but collected in stores could soon be increasing at a faster rate than home delivery ordering, as consumers embrace click-and-collect services. The volume of UK non-food sales made via the internet for collection in store will increase by 33 million parcels this year on a par with the increase in units for home delivery at 36 million, the Financial Times reported. The growth in the volume of units ordered online but collected in store is forecast to overtake that for home delivery for the first time in 2015, rising by 53 million parcels year on year. Non-food click-and-collect will reach 30% of the UK market by 2017.

Morrisons boss Dalton Philips could get extra £2.3m in share bonus

Morrison’s chief executive Dalton Philips is in line to earn an extra £2.3m, in spite of forgoing his annual bonus for the second year in a row after trading deterioratd at th grocer, The Sunday Times reported.  On April 22 last year, the supermarket’s board approved a long-term share incentive for the grocer’s boss worth almost three times his salary but to receive it he must grow sales and earnings per share significantly by 2016.

 

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