Retail boost masks ‘weakest period of trading’
Feb 08 2011
Trading could remain poor for months yet
Industry experts are playing down the significance of UK retail revenues rising 4.2 per cent year-on-year.
While the results for last month show the best sales growth in the sector since March 2010, Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, stresses the importance of context.
‘Comparisons are with a feeble, snow-hit performance a year ago,’ he says.
Robertson adds that growth this January was driven by a relatively short burst of non-food buying early in the month, with a slowing of non-food sales later in the month and food sales growth ‘modest’.
He cites ‘pressure’ on consumers as a main hindrance to growth. ‘Turning round consumer confidence is central to turning round the economy. A range of pressures is bearing down on customers. As it considers the Budget, the government must not add any more.’
Helen Dickinson, head of retail at professional services firm KPMG, agrees that the figures should be analysed with caution. ‘Falling disposable incomes will continue to exert pressure on sales in the first quarter of the year, traditionally the weakest period of trading as consumers cut back on spending post-Christmas,’ she says.
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