UK retail sales slow as confidence wanes: KPMG

UK retail sales decreased by 0.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis from March 2021, when it had increased by 20.3 per cent. This was worse than the 3-month average growth of 3.2 per cent and the 12-month average growth of 6.5 per cent.

The statistics surveyed covered five weeks—from February 27 to April 2.

Over the three months to March, non-food retail sales increased by 14.9 per cent on a total basis and by 8.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis. This is worse than the 12-month total average growth of 18.3 per cent, KPMG said in a note.

Over the three months to March, in-store sales of non-food items grew 92.9 per cent on a total basis and 74.9 per cent on a like-for-like basis. This was an improvement on the total 12-month average growth of 69.9 per cent.

Online non-food sales decreased by 29 per cent during March compared with a growth of 64.7 per cent in March 2021. This is worse than the three-month decline of 27.3 per cent.

Non-food online penetration rate decreased to 38.5 per cent in March from 63 per cent in March 2021.

“As consumer confidence continued to sink, March saw sales slow, and while spend remained above last year this likely reflects higher prices. Beauty and fashion items were popular last month, as consumers took to their town and city centres for some retail therapy in the run up to Mother’s Day,” Helen Dickinson, chief executive of British Retail Consortium, said.

“While it is promising to see experiential shopping back in fashion, much in-store retail has not recovered to its pre-pandemic level. Online sales also decreased compared to last year but remain well above 2019 levels due to investment by retailers in their digital offer,” Dickinson added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)