April retail sales 'show improvement'
Apr 29 2009
Retail sales in April were better than the weak figures recorded in March as more firms report increases rather than falls, a new study shows.
However, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) asserts that businesses should not be too optimistic of the high street seeing the improvement continue into the next month.
In the last Distributive Trades Survey, 44 per cent of retailers report increased year-on-year sales volumes in the first half of this month, while 41 per cent say they fell.
The positive balance of three per cent shows improvement on the -44 per cent which was recorded in March, but retailers do not expect this result to last into May.
Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel, explains: 'The good turnout by shoppers over this year's later Easter may well have influenced the April retail figures and while they mark a respite, they should not be taken as an indication of a high street revival.'
He adds that wider factors such as rising unemployment and a slowing in earnings growth are likely to dampen consumer confidence and cause sales to drop next month.
Richard Dodd, spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium, comments that firms do not expect the CBI figures to be anything more than a "temporary blip" and are nervous about the coming months.
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