Western Europe

Sportswear value sales continued to rise in 2023, although much of this growth was driven by inflation and price increases. Consumers have made cut backs on sportswear, as in many other major categories, as disposable incomes are squeezed. Danish…

Pre-paid cards is set to see a solid performance in 2023, while other card payment methods, such as charge cards and store cards, are set to decrease significantly, and others are set to see slower growth, such as debit cards. One of the factors…

Menswear continues to see buoyant current value growth in 2023, although this is mainly driven by price rises as inflation remains well above average in Denmark. Consumers have been making cutbacks on men’s apparel leading to a small decline in…

Retail volume sales of jeans were pushed into decline in 2023, as demand was stifled by price increases and the high cost of living. Denmark’s inflation rate soared in 2022, alongside many other European countries, pushing up costs and the retail…

Hosiery witnessed an increase in current value growth in 2023 fuelled by price rises, but this only lowered consumer confidence forcing cutbacks on these products, alongside other apparel. The category was heavily impacted by COVID-19 as women spent…

Footwear is struggling to recover from the harsh impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with retail volume and current values sales still below pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Although 2021 brought a renewed interest in footwear with consumers returning to…

In 2023, the UK’s economy has continued to be characterised by a high inflation rate and a rising cost of living. And, while in 2022 this situation was mainly exacerbated by the high cost of energy, in 2023 this cost has gradually started decreasing,…

In 2023, debit cards remains the preferred and most widely used payment method, increasing from the previous year in terms of the number of cards in circulation, as well as the volume and retail value of transactions. However, this growth is set to…

In 2022, there was double-digit growth in terms of credit card spending for both personal and commercial credit cards. High inflation and the rising cost of living, which have also been affecting Britons in 2023, were amongst the main causes. In…

In 2023, childrenswear continues to see robust growth in value terms, although this is largely driven by inflation and price increases. Inflation has fallen slightly, but it continues to be a hindrance to volume growth, with sales pushed back into…

Charge cards is expected to continue to see double-digit declines in 2023 in terms of cards in circulation, and volume and value transactions. Historically, charge cards were primarily associated with business use, as the majority of transactions,…

Overall, apparel and footwear continued to witness positive current value growth in 2023, although as in the previous year much of this growth was driven by inflation and retail price increases. In the face of these higher prices and costs of living,…

Apparel accessories is recovering in 2023, following a noticeable decline in 2022 as consumers shifted away from buying face masks in the post-pandemic era. Whilst retail volume sales remained in decline, apparel accessories reported positive current…

After the slump in demand and retail current value sales in 2020, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, womenswear rebounded in 2021 and 2022. The category moved towards a full recovery, as pandemic restrictions gradually eased…

Womenswear is in a volume slump following an uptick in sales immediately following the pandemic. The uptick was reactionary following the abnormal era of store closures and is not persisting due to budgetary pressures and inflation. Whilst e-commerce…

Overall, sportswear is expected to see healthy growth in retail current value terms in 2023. All categories of sportswear are predicted to continue their retail current value growth trajectories, albeit at a slower rate, compared with 2021 and 2022.…

Sportswear is a winner in 2023, thanks to strong and ongoing athleisure and streetwear fashion trends, such as the popularity of sports-inspired footwear (eg sneakers), and hybrid styles whereby consumers mix sports-inspired apparel with more formal…

Menswear is set to see a strong single-digit rise in retail current value sales over 2023 to exceed the 2019 pre-pandemic level, following the slump recorded in 2020 due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and fast growth rebounds in both 2021…

Menswear continues to perform fairly well in 2023, despite seeing lower volume growth than witnessed in the previous two years – which can be attributed to a normalisation effect following the steep declines seen during the era of the pandemic store…

Jeans is expected to see a low single-digit growth in retail current value terms over 2023, to return to the 2019 pre-Coronavirus (COVID-19) level. Jeans started to recover in 2021, having suffered a downturn with the pandemic, as Italians limited…