Retailers hold firm despite restrictions

Research has found retailers traded at between 60 and 70% of normal volumes in January.

According to the latest data from Auto Trader, this has been achieved despite lockdown forcing retailers to close everything but click and collect or home delivery.

It recorded a daily average of 1.3 million users to its marketplace in January, representing an increase in leads sent to retailers of about 10% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, 45% of those surveyed said they were more confident than they were a year ago, while 60% said the new restrictions had not affected their desired timeline to purchase.

Auto Trader’s chief executive oOfficer, Nathan Coe, said: “Whilst we appreciate not every retailer is seeing the same positive levels of activity, it’s very reassuring to see and to hear anecdotally from many of our retailer partners that businesses are performing consistently way above the levels we saw during the first lockdown and at similar levels to the second. If the restrictions remain as is, we expect this level of transactions to continue, and potentially strengthen towards the end of the lockdown as we’ve seen previously. Overall, much as we saw when exiting the two previous lockdowns, we’re feeling confident the market will be in a robust position once the restrictions are lifted.”

The research also revealed that average used prices remained exceptionally strong in January, recording a year-on-year increase of circa seven per cent, marking 10 months of consecutive price growth.