UK retail sales worst for 15 years

Sales in January fell 0.7% compared with the same month last year. The BRC says snow boosted food sales in the first week of January as people stocked up on essentials, but hit non-food, especially discretionary items.

When the weather improved, food sales slowed but non-food staged a partial recovery.

Over the month, food, clothing and footwear showed gains on a year ago, but homewares and furniture showed declines.

Non-food non-store sales (internet, mail-order and phone sales) in January were 14.6% higher than a year ago compared with 26.5% in December. Some benefited from shoppers buying online when snow prevented them from getting out.

Stephen Robertson, BRC Director General, British Retail Consortium, comments: "This was an awful start to the year and in stark contrast to an upbeat December.

"This is the worst January sales growth in the 15 years we?ve been running the survey. It was a month of two halves with a focus on must-haves early on.

"The coldest January since 1987 boosted food sales at the start of the month, as shoppers stocked up. But food sales growth melted with the snow. The month as a whole was significantly weaker than December.

?Most non-food sectors had a poor start, though nearly all recovered towards the end of the month. Furniture and DIY were worst hit as customers put off buying non-essentials."

Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, adds:" The underlying trend is difficult to read but there is no doubt that the strong sales we saw in December 2009 are not indicative of the trend for the rest of this year.?

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire