Discounting has helped retail sales growth remain stable but low during the past quarter, official figures have revealed.
Sales volume from May to July increased by 1.1% on the previous quarter. This compares with 1.9% growth for the same time in 2006.
There were reported increases in all sectors apart from textile, clothing and footware stores, where sales fell by 0.5%, the figures showed.
However, it was a different story in central London where retail sales in July were 11.6% higher than a year earlier, despite a drop in footfall.
The London Retail Consortium (LRC) said the lower footfall figures fuelled reports that consumers were making fewer shopping trips but spending more on each transaction and using the internet.
“Tourism continues to widen the gap between booming sales growth in London and the declining trend elsewhere,” said Kevin Hawkins, director of the LRC.
“Other helpful factors were the widespread discounting throughout the month and the heavy rainfall, which drove more shoppers into department stores. It will be some time before the direction of the underlying trend becomes clearer.”
Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG, said: “Given London was not so badly affected as other parts of the country by the poor weather in July, it is no surprise that central London, with like-for-like growth of 11.6%, outperformed the rest of the UK.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
