Homeware sales remained in positive territory on the high street for a second consecutive week.

According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like (LFL) sales rose by 11.03% for the week ending 5 March 2023.

Homeware total LFLs climbed by +11.42%, but failed to offset last year’s negative base of -16.05% for the same week last year. This week denoted the category’s second positive result for 2023 so far, following modest growth last week.

Store homeware sales were up by +14.82% from a rebounding base of +53.80% for the same week last year, marking the category’s ninth consecutive positive result and its highest since the week including Christmas Day in 2022.

Total in-store LFL sales increased by +10.76%, from a base of +2,924.35% for the same week last year. Total non-store LFL sales rose by +10.74% from a base of -21.23% for the same week last year.

Commenting on the results, BDO said: “The tick up in total LFLs this week was founded on strong results in both in-store and non-store channels, most notably in non-store LFLs, which were positive across all segments.

“Total non-store LFLs saw the largest increase since the last week of June 2022 while homewares total LFLs saw the highest growth since the first week of April 2022, although both failed to offset their base results.

“The overblown base figure reflects the effect of sales results coming off of a significantly low base result in the same week in 2021 when physical trading was stopped due to pandemic-induced lockdown.

“This week saw temperatures dip below 0°C due to freezing Arctic air sweeping across the UK resulting in a wintry cold snap. During the same week last year, the UK saw milder weather conditions with predominantly cloudy skies and periodic sunshine.”

Overall footfall grew by +6.9% this week compared to the equivalent week in 2022. High street footfall saw an increase of +10.1% this week, while shopping centres and retail parks saw footfall improve by +5.6% and +1.3% respectively.