April showers dampen retail sector recovery
RETAIL sales dropped sharply in April, and recorded almost no growth on the year as bad weather kept shoppers off the high street, official data showed yesterday.
By value, sales dropped 2.8 per cent on the month to £25.9bn after a relatively healthy March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated, while sales were up just 0.4 per cent compared with April 2011.
By volume, sales were down 2.3 per cent on the month and 1.1 per cent on the year.
Part of the monthly drop was caused by panic buying of petrol at the end of March skewing the figures, boosting that month’s data and hitting April’s.
However, even when fuel sales are excluded, volumes dropped 0.3 per cent on the year and one per cent on the month.
Food stores saw sales fall 3.5 per cent on the year, while clothes shops recorded a 7.5 per cent fall.
Weekly internet sales were up 18.1 per cent to £489m, and account for an estimated 8.5 per cent of all retail sales excluding motor fuel.