Though the final official figures have not yet been published The British Retail Consortium's most recent retail figures have shown that June's retail sales values fell 0.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis compared with June 2007. That means that sales have now been lower than a year ago in three of the past four months making it the worst summer since 2005. Last month's fall has been blamed on changeable weather after May's warm sun. The increasing demands on household budgets and weakness of the housing market, shoppers are becoming increasingly price-conscious and reluctant to spend on big-ticket items. This coupled with the increase in toy prizes in the 2nd half of the year mean that the trend is likely to continue.
Stephen Robertson, Director General of the BRC explained to us that "The negative
result confirms fears May's modest like-for-like growth was a
start-of-summer blip. While total retail sales frew in June, that was
by less than half last month's figure. Retailers are doing all they can to reassure customers, offering some
of the strongest discounts and promotions in decades and keeping a lid
on inflation"
He continued, "Retailers
are doing all they can to reassure customers, offering some of the
strongest discounts and promotions in decades and keeping a lid on
inflation."