Retail morale is knocked by sluggish sales
RETAIL sales have remained sluggish at the start of 2012, despite earlier reports that weak consumer confidence was turning a corner.
Like-for-like sales were down 0.3 per cent in January compared to the same time last year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said this morning.
“Customers parked their worries in December and spent, encouraged by discounts,” commented the BRC’s Stephen Robertson. “Now, in the New Year, reality has bitten again as concerns about jobs, wages and household costs reassert themselves.”
Tough comparisons hurt the figures. Last winter saw high levels of deferred sales in the January, after heavy snow prevented people from hitting the shops in December 2010.
Separate figures from Visa showed annualised sales down 2.2 per cent, despite a 0.4 per cent rise in the value of purchases between December and January.
Yet the underlying trend remains bleak, with the BRC revealing like-for-like sales up by just 0.3 per cent on the three month weighted average, compared to a year earlier.
The value of total sales – which includes sales from new shops and expanded shop-floors – rose 2.1 per cent in January and 2.4 per cent in the three month measure, with both figures significantly below current levels of inflation.
Earlier in the month a survey of consumer confidence hinted that tumbling sentiment among UK shoppers could have bottomed out.