Festive period off to a ‘bad start’ for retail sector as sales drop
The retail sector suffered a “bad start” to the festive period, a new survey suggests, even if the sales slump was exaggerated by the timing of Black Friday.
The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) sales monitor showed that sales volumes fell 3.3 per cent in the year-to-November, compared to a 2.3 per cent increase last year.
The sharp change was largely due to the timing of Black Friday, which fell outside of the BRC’s survey period this year.
“While the majority of November’s data tells a disappointing tale for the retail sector, this reporting didn’t include Black Friday week,” Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer, retail & leisure at KPMG, said.
“The hope for retailers is that consumers were being savvy shoppers and that the promotional push in the last days of the month saw held-back consumer spend materialise and mitigate what is otherwise a disappointing month,” she added.
Despite the timing of Black Friday, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said it was still “undoubtedly a bad start to the festive season”.
The figures showed that non-food sales fell 2.1 per cent year-on-year, which Dickinson said was a result of “low consumer confidence and rising energy bills”.
Spending on fashion was also “particularly weak”, she said, suggesting that households had put off spending on winter clothes.
Food sales, meanwhile, registered a 2.4 per cent year-on-year increase in November, down from growth of 7.6 per cent last year.
“Retailers will be hoping that seasonal spending is delayed not diminished,” Dickinson added.
The survey adds to a growing list of surveys which suggest that economic momentum has slowed since the government’s first Budget.
The BRC’s most recent consumer sentiment survey, published last week, showed that confidence in the economy had taken a hit following the Budget, dipping further into negative territory.