British shoppers left gift hunt late

One of the UK’s largest jewellery chains today provided the first evidence that shoppers across the water left it later than ever to snap up Christmas presents.

Goldsmiths said total sales in the four weeks to Christmas Eve were up 10.5% on a year earlier – helped by stronger-than-expected business earlier this week.

The like-for-like figure, which strips out new store openings, rose 6.9%.

Chief executive Jurek Piasecki said shoppers had left making purchases until “incredibly late”, adding that he was happy with the overall performance.

Demand was strongest for “large ticket” items with the trend for owning watches as fashion accessories resulting in strong interest in a range of brands, including Emporio Armani and Raymond Weil.

However, sales of lower-priced gold jewellery were disappointing, the company added.

Mr Piasecki said: “Christmas proved to be a challenging period for the retail sector and we are therefore pleased by our overall performance.”