Retail sales slide in September as analyst warns future is ‘highly uncertain’
Retail sales slipped last month as September recorded the largest decline in food store sales for three years.
Sales declined 0.8 per cent compared to August, mainly due to a 1.5 per cent fall in food sales, which is the largest drop since October 2015.
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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that online sales as a proportion of all retail fell slightly to 17.8 per cent in September from 18 per cent the previous month.
However, in the three months to September the quantity of goods sold increased by 1.2 per cent compared to the previous quarter, driven by a 3.9 per cent increase for goods from 'other stores' and a strong growth in watch and jewellery sales.
ONS head of retail sales Rhian Murphy said: “Retail continued to grow in the three months to September with jewellery shops and online stores seeing particularly strong sales. This was despite a stark slowdown in food sales in September, following a bumper summer.”
Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "It looks like consumer spending – along with the weather – peaked in early summer and has been declining ever since.
"Where we go from here is highly uncertain. Brexit is hitting consumer confidence hard, but on the plus side wage growth has hit a decade high while inflation is falling.
"So consumers look likely to have more spending power – the issue is whether they choose to use it, or keep their powder dry until more clarity over Brexit emerges."
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