Clothing & footwear price deflation depress Jan retail sales

17 Feb '06

3 min read

The Scottish Retail Consortium reported the Retail Sales Monitor (RSM) for January 2006.

Results:
- Like-for-like sales were 0.6 percent lower than at the same time last year, the first decline since September 2000.

- Total sales grew by only 2.3 percent in January 2006, the weakest since March 2000.

- Once the December sales had finished, consumers tightened their spending levels to pre-November 2005 levels.

- Most of January's decline came from non-food sales, which fell 1.2 percent, with clothing and footwear particularly hard-hit.

Fiona Moriarty, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “This month's results have come as a surprise to retailers, with the lowest like-for-like and total growth seen in Scotland since 2000. Whilst the Christmas figures were a welcome boost to retailers, we have now returned to the reality of what can only be seen as a difficult set of trading circumstances.”

Andrew McLaughlin, Group Chief Economist at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, said: “January trading produced the expected pay-back for a bumper December when sales were buoyed by heavy promotional activity and an extra Saturday's trading. Total sales growth for January fell to 2.3 percent, the lowest outturn since Spring 2000."

Sector Performance in January
Clothing - Overall sales weakened again after an improvement in December, and remained lower than a year ago, but were better than in September and October. Womenswear was generally tough, especially for major purchases such as winter coats. Value ranges and fast fashion did relatively better, together with accessories, notably handbags.

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