Worst quarter for retail since summer 2012 as drop in food sales gets sector reversing
Retail sales growth went into reverse last month, according to dreary figures released this morning, with the first quarter of contraction in more than two years recorded.
Like-for-like sales dropped by 0.2 per cent between May and July, compared to the same months a year ago, according to the latest data from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
July’s like-for-like sales alone were 0.3 per cent lower than in the same month in 2013, putting an end to a dreary quarter.
Previously, retail sales have not dropped over a quarter since the summer of 2012, during a much weaker economic climate.
Food sales drove the decrease – while non food sales rose by 2.4 per cent during the period, a 3.5 per cent slump in food categories was enough to drive the index into negative territory.
“Food experienced its deepest three-month average decline since at least December 2008, explained partly by the continuing keen price competition between supermarkets, which consumers are taking full advantage of, and record low food inflation,” said the BRC’s Helen Dickinson. The BRC recorded food inflation of just 0.3 per cent during June, the lowest on record.
Broken down by sector, clothing and footwear sales were by a distance the weakest non-food items in July, down 11.2 per cent in a year.
The only sectors which saw any sales growth were health and beauty, and other non food, both of which increased by 0.7 per cent during the 12 month period.