Why we've been scrutinising the high street on the business desk this week

This week in business news, the focus was very much on the the problems of the UK high street.

Marks & Spencer’s results, published on Wednesday, showed a rise in profit, but the retailer’s clothing arm continued its downward trajectory and, more worryingly, food sales dipped too.

The struggles facing this much-loved British brand have been well-documented, and at this point it’s difficult to say how things will end up. Earlier this year the company took drastic steps towards turning things around, with 100 store closures announced, and chief executive Steve Rowe said the strategy was starting to take effect. Indeed, shares initially went up on Wednesday.

However, investors turned sour later in the day as analysts issued fairly negative assessments of the state of play at M&S. Hargreaves Lansdown’s Laith Khalaf said the financial update “makes for grim reading”, while Tom Stevenson at Fidelity said reading the results was “like taking a cold shower”.

The group has only itself to blame for many of its failings. Its store offering is a well-known problem, which has been flagged time and time again – old-fashioned and outdated are two of the most-used phrases. Meanwhile, the firm’s website is in need of an overhaul, and has been for the past few years.

However, the issues at M&S are not all of the group’s making, or it wouldn’t be joined by a litany of other retail giants who have also been forced to make tough decisions over the last 12 months, such as Asda, Debenhams and House of Fraser.

The week finished with more not-so-cheery news for the sector, with research revealing that an average of 14 shops are disappearing from the British high street every day.

We’re now heading into what has always been the most important period of the year for retailers, known as the “golden quarter” as consumers express goodwill to all with a big shopping spree. But will festive spending benefit traditional bricks and mortar shops this year, or will the online giants reap even more of the rewards? Scrutiny of the high street will not let up until the sales figures for the Christmas period are released early next year, and even then it’s likely that the UK’s retailers will remain in the spotlight for some time to come.

Yours,

Caitlin Morrison
Business editor