The nation’s retailers reported an Easter surge in sales volumes, but analysts have cautioned that the figure comes against weak comparatives.
Warmer weather and the four-day Easter weekend drove April shop sales up by 6.8% on a like-for-like bases over the same period last year, according to latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Total sales for the period climbed 9.8%.
The figure marks the sector’s sharpest growth since March 2002; however, the BRC warned that it is somewhat distorted by its comparative figure from April 2005, when sales plunged 4.7%.
Unseasonably cold weather in March this year also combined to distort sales patterns, the BRC said.
“While any uplift in sales is welcome, the distortion arising from the timing of Easter and the weather underlines the need for caution in interpreting these figures,” said Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC.
“Discounting has also played a big part in these results. We need to see the figures for this month, which will be directly comparable with last May, before forming any tentative conclusion about the underlying trend.”
Meanwhile, the three-month trend rate of growth showed a marginal decline in April on like-for-like sale, dropping just 0.02%. In total sales the figure rose 2.9%, which reflects a continued growth in retail space, the BRC said.
Sales were driven by the clothing and footwear sub-sectors, as well as a rebound in the DIY sector
