Hard-pressed British retailers are increasingly moving into foreign markets to compete more keenly with their home-based rivals as they struggle to deal with a 'double whammy' of higher raw material and energy costs, and slow consumer spending.
That was the overall picture which emerged as several big high street and clothing retailers, including Mothercare, Primark and ASOS, issued updated trading statements yesterday.
Both Mothercare and ASOS said they had benefited from greater focus on foreign sales, which had helped them weather the increasingly tough conditions at home, brought about by a combination of rising prices and slow growth in consumers' wages, which was in turn squeezing demand.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer, the top clothing retailer in Britain, announced earlier this week that like-for-like UK sales excluding VAT had increased by 1.7 per cent year-on-year in the 13 weeks to July 2.
