It has been reported today that the British Retail Consortium and KPMG has released figures showing that in their monthly retail sales, total sales increased by 0.2%, despite sales slowing down by the end of the month following the EU referendum. Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive commented it was too early to define this as a trend.
The results were driven by a drop in sales in the fashion categories regardless of record growth for the same month the previous year in clothing and footwear.
Helen Dickinson commented: “The EU referendum vote has not changed their relentless pursuit of delivering for customers day in, day out or their investment in meeting the needs of fundamental changes in the way people shop, driven by digital and technology.
“Despite the fall in the pound, the time it takes for any input price increases to translate into higher shop prices will depend on a combination of factors including further changes in the pound, commodity prices and the challenge for retailers to move pricing given the intensity of competition. So, there won’t be any instant shocks as any changes would take time to feed through.”
Other figures show that online sales for non-food items in the UK increased 9% last month compared to 17.6% the year before.
Head of retail at KPMG, David McCorquodale, said: “The gloomy weather failed to persuade shoppers onto the virtual aisles which meant summer fashion sales resembled tumble-weed on a catwalk and footwear sales flip-flopped considerably.
“Well timed advertising campaigns sparked sales of electricals as consumers’ sort out new TVs and the latest high-tech mobile phones to catch the Euro 2016 action at home and on-the-go.
“With the referendum fallout still uncertain, retailers will need to make sure all channels are ready and resilient to cope with the impact of a Brexit.”
