Retailers enjoy first quarter of growth in years
HIGH street stores of all stripes have enjoyed rising sales in the past three months for the first time in four years, according to figures released today.
BDO’s high street sales tracker shows like-for-like sales were up 1.1 per cent in May, marking the first full quarter since 2010 where fashion, lifestyle and homewares have all record positive growth over a three month period.
Like-for-like sales at fashion retailers grew 0.7 per cent year-on-year in May, while sales of lifestyle goods were up 0.9 per cent and homewares rose by 5.1 per cent.
“Not only is growth coming from all sectors, it’s coming from the majority of retailers as opposed to just a minority boosting the overall performance,” BDO’s head of retail and wholesale Sophie Bevan said.
“This uplift in consumer confidence should mean steady growth – we don’t expect to see the lofty levels witnessed pre-recession, but in line with, or slightly ahead of GDP.”
BDO’s figures, which include around 85 retailers, backs research from the British Retail Consortium yesterday showing like-for-like sales for non-food accelerated to 3.2 per cent on a three month average.