Homeware sales fell back into negative territory on the high street while footfall remained positive.

According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like (LFL) sales rose by 4.26% for the week ending 27 November 2022.

Homeware total LFLs tumbled by 3.83% from a base of +14.66% for the same week last year, indicative of the category’s third negative result in the last five weeks and its fourteenth for this year.

Instore homeware sales climbed by +3.68% from a base of +266.63% for the same week last year, marking its ninth consecutive positive result and thirty fourth for 2022.

Total in-store LFL sales increased by +3.72%, from a base of +679.54% for the same week last year when retail activities were recovering from the second national lockdown in 2020. Total non-store LFL sales grew by +4.80% from a base of -11.13% for the same week last year.

Commenting on the results, BDO said: “Despite Black Friday promotions this week, results were not positive across all segments with non-store channels for lifestyle and homewares pulling down total LFLs for both categories.

“The weather was unsettled this week marked by a cold spell accompanied by wet and windy conditions as well as widespread frost in northern parts of the UK. The same week last year saw drier and wintry weather with snowfall and patchy rainfall.

Total footfall rose by +4.3% this week compared to the corresponding week last year. Climbing by +6.6%, the high street saw the largest footfall growth this week, while shopping centres saw an increase of +3.7%. Retail parks in contrast were flat this week, declining by -0.1%.