Olympics fail to lift UK retail sales in August

Excluding the Easter anomaly, these were both the lowest since November 2011, driven by particularly weak non-food sales as the feelgood factor from the Olympics failed to inspire spending.

The most noticeable impact from the Olympics was felt online which saw growth of just 4.8% in August - the lowest since the Monitor started collecting data on this in October 2008.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: "There's no evidence here of any Olympic boost to retail sales overall. Sadly, apart from April - distorted by Easter timings - August saw the worst sales growth this year.

"It's clear people were absorbed by the magnificent Olympics and had little interest in shopping, especially for major items. Usually-reliable online sales suffered, putting in the worst sales growth since we started the measure four years ago. Some retailers told us online activity was particularly thin in the evenings. If people weren't watching television they were more likely to be following the sport on PCs and mobile devices than shopping.

"As summer gives way to the all-important Christmas run-up, retailers will be hoping sales that didn't happen in August have been postponed and not lost entirely."

Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, said: "Retailers' hopes that the Olympics would inspire a pickup in spending were dashed as shoppers stayed away from the high street and enjoyed the sporting spectacle from their armchairs. While, without doubt, the Olympics brought a much needed boost to consumer confidence, the country was 'otherwise engaged' in August and the sales figures show a mixed picture. Those areas of spending which are most discretionary suffered, with women's clothing, furniture, flooring and home related items hit the hardest.

"However, it could have been much worse. August is traditionally a weak month for sales and it's really the next three months that will have a critical impact on retailers' profitability. The challenge remains to accurately forecast outcomes in such a volatile trading environment."

British Retail Consortium (BRC)