UK Retailers Peacocks and Bonmarche to be put into administration

Yesterday Peacock Group, owner of high street retailers Peacocks and Bonmarche announced that it is going to put both businesses into administration. The Peacock Group are part of a long list of retailers struggling in the current economic conditions. In the past year a number of UK retailers went into administration (e.g. Jane Norman, Habitat, La Senza and Barratts) whilst others announced store closures (e.g. Arcadia Group, Carpet Right and HMV).However some retailers such as Debenhams reported better profit margins (during the Christmas sales period) than expected. Whilst others (e.g. Next, John Lewis and Marks and Spencers), reported a rise in online sales over the Christmas period. As these retailers are not discount chains it may suggest that in the UK "the traditional retail high street's" struggles are due to factors in addition to consumers with reduced spending ability.