Retail sales volume faces a large drop as the British shoppers avoided the nation’s high streets in droves in February. This fact has been revealed by an official data, which has pointed towards a sharper than expected drop in the volume of retail sales, adding to anecdotal evidence that consumers are tightening their belts.
According to National Statistics, the sales volumes in February fell by 0.8% from January and by 1% since petrol sales have stripped out. The drop has been calculated to be bigger than the average decline of 0.6%.
Weakness has been seen in almost every category of retailing, exceptions being the non-store retailing internet sales and petrol. Even the food stores witnessed a drop of 0.4%. Justin King, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that “there had been a significant fall off in sales since the end of Christmas. The surprise is just how sudden that is”.
Weaknesses have also been noticed in Non-specialized stores including department stores, household goods, etc.
The data come amid a swathe of disappointing results from UK retailers. Lord Wolfson, Next Chief Executive and a Tory peer, warned retailers and said that “The consumer environment is likely to be dominated by the challenges of global inflation, public sector cuts and limited growth in consumer credit. These factors mean that retailers cannot plan for never-ending growth in like-for-like sales that many have enjoyed over the past 15 years”.