- Retail sales declined 4% year-over-year in the four weeks ending April 27.
- Easter fell much earlier than usual in 2024, artificially increasing food demand
Poor weather conditions and the start of the Easter weekend led to a drop in retail sales in the UK last month.
The latest British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor shows sales fell 4 percent year-on-year in the four weeks ending April 27, against growth of 5.1 percent in 2023.
Easter fell much earlier than usual this year, artificially increasing demand for food, kitchen utensils and tableware across Britain in March.
Wet conditions: Bad weather in April depressed sales of garden and DIY furniture, as well as footwear and clothing, especially outdoor sportswear and summer clothing.
As a result, food purchases weakened over the following month, although they still grew by 4.4 percent in the three months to April.
Non-food sales also declined year-on-year last month as the UK had its wettest April since 2012 and one of its wettest on record.
The bad weather depressed sales of garden and DIY furniture, as well as footwear and clothing, especially outdoor sportswear and summer clothing.
Linda Ellett, head of consumer, retail and leisure at KPMG in the UK, noted that Brits are “releasing the purse strings much more slowly than they tightened them, choosing to save or pay down debt.”
He added: “The positive sales figures seen in March due to an early Easter demonstrate the importance that triggers such as warmer weather, events and occasions can play in helping to generate the impact needed to get consumers spending again.” .
But there was growing demand for technology products, which BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE attributed to shoppers upgrading from products they bought at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added that many businesses “expect higher sales over the summer months as social events increase” and consumer confidence to rise as the Bank of England opts to pull the trigger on interest rate cuts.
The Bank of England raised UK interest rates on 14 consecutive occasions between December 2021 and summer 2023 in response to rising inflation driven mainly by skyrocketing energy prices.
Although inflation has more than halved from a four-decade high of 11.1 percent at the end of 2022 to 3.2 percent in March, high mortgage costs and high gas and electricity bills have reduced acquisitive power.
The central bank is expected to cut rates later this year, with the first cut likely coming as early as Thursday.
Aside from an interest rate cut, Ellett said retailers want warmer weather and good results from England and Scotland at the upcoming European Football Championship in Germany.