- Retail sales declined by 4% year-on-year in the four weeks ending 27 April
- Easter fell much sooner than usual in 2024, artificially upping demand for food
Sodden weather conditions and the early Easter weekend caused UK retail sales to slump last month.
The latest British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor shows sales dropped by 4 per cent year-on-year in the four weeks ending 27 April, against 5.1 per cent growth in 2023.
Easter fell much sooner than usual this year, artificially upping demand for food, cookware and tableware across Britain in March.
Wet conditions: Poor weather in April depressed sales of DIY and garden furniture, as well as footwear and clothing, especially outdoor sportswear and summer apparel
As a result, food purchases weakened during the following month, although they still grew by 4.4 per cent 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 dampest on record.
The poor weather depressed sales of DIY and garden furniture, as well as footwear and clothing, especially outdoor sportswear and summer apparel.
Linda Ellett, the UK head of consumer, retail, and leisure at KPMG, noted that Britons are ‘releasing the purse strings much more slowly than they tightened them, choosing to save or pay down debt’.
She 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 have in helping to deliver the necessary impact required to get consumers spending again.’
But there was growing demand for technology goods, which BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE credited to shoppers upgrading the products they bought at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She added that many firms ‘are hoping for brighter sales over the summer months as social events ramp up’ and for consumer confidence to receive an uplift when the Bank of England opts to pull the trigger on interest rate cuts.
The BoE hiked the UK interest rate on 14 successive occasions between December 2021 and summer 2023 in response to rising inflation caused mainly by soaring energy prices.
Although inflation has more than halved from a four-decade peak of 11.1 per cent in late 2022 to 3.2 per cent in March, elevated mortgage costs and high gas and electricity bills have squeezed spending power.
The central bank is expected to lower rates later this year, with the first cut possibly happening as early as Thursday.
Aside from an interest rate cut, Ellett said retailers are wishing for hotter weather and strong performances from England and Scotland at the upcoming European Football Championship in Germany.