More Retailers And Logistics Firms Are Dying And Fewer Are Being ‘born' Than Pre-pandemic

31st July 2024

In the first half of this year, 13,390 retailers and 10,595 transportation & storage sector companies were 'born' but a whopping 14,500 retailers and 13,150 transportation & storage companies 'died'. Worse still, fewer new companies are being launched than in pre-pandemic 2019 and significantly more are failing, says the delivery expert Parcelhero.

It's been a turbulent six months for retail and transportation & storage sector companies, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero. A new Office for National Statistics (ONS) report, ‘Business Demography’, reveals 13,390 new retail sector companies were ‘born’ in the first half of 2024. However, 14,500 retailers ‘died’ in the first half of this year. That’s a net loss of 1,110 retail businesses.

Likewise, 10,595 transportation & storage sector firms, including couriers and postal companies, were born in the first half of this year but 13,150 failed - leaving a net loss of 2,555 companies.

Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘Over a thousand more retailers have "died" than been “born” during the first half of this year and over two and a half thousand more transportation & storage companies have failed than been created.

‘These figures are even more alarming when we compare them to the same period in 2019, before the UK was hit by the pandemic. In the first half of 2019, 17,670 retailers were born. That’s 4,280 more new retailers registered than in the first half of this year. Likewise, 15,325 transportation & storage companies were born in the first six months of 2019, which was 4,730 more than this year.

‘It also looks like far fewer companies failed in the first half of 2019 than this year. A total of 13,885 retailers failed in the first half of 2019, which was 615 fewer than in 2024. Similarly, 10,560 transportation & storage firms died in the first six months of 2019, which was 2,590 fewer than the first half of this year.

‘It does look as if both retailers and their transportation & storage partners are suffering from chronic long Covid. The health of both sectors seems considerably impaired compared to before the pandemic.

‘At the heart of this is a continuing lack of consumer confidence post-Covid. Many people faced a loss of earnings during the pandemic and it is likely that is still having an impact, in terms of reduced savings and a lack of spare “spending money”.

‘It does appear that, in many ways, the legacy of Covid and subsequent events have been underestimated across the entire economy. This is highlighted in HM Treasury’s new report “Fixing the Foundations”, which has identified a £21.9bn overspend in the Spring 2024 budget. This was largely because of “fiscal events” since the last major spending review in 2021, including the impacts of inflation and the invasion of Ukraine.

‘Now the election is out of the way and inflation continues to fall, will consumers choose to believe that things can only get better under the new government? Or will consumer sentiment continue to remain cautious as everyone waits to see how the economy fares?

‘One certainty is that it will be those retailers with strong in-store and online sales that will ultimately triumph in a post-Covid world. Parcelhero’s influential report “2030: Death of the High Street” has been discussed in Parliament. It reveals that retailers must develop an omnichannel approach, embracing both online and physical store sales. Read the full report at: https://www.parcelhero.com/content/downloads/pdfs/high-street/deathofthehighstreetreport.pdf