• Like-for-like sales in July were 1.7% higher than in July 2006, when they had risen 2.8%. Total sales in July were 5.6% up on a year ago.
• July's like-for-like sales were the weakest since March 2006 when sales fell slightly because Easter was in April in 2006 but in March in 2005.
• The dull, wet weather hit food, clothing and footwear, gardening and outdoor DIY. Indoor home and leisure benefited, with aggressive discounts in clearance sales.
• Scotland's performance in July rose just above that across the UK, which saw 1.2% like-for-like growth.
Fiona Moriarty, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: "Sales growth continues to slow across Scotland with wet and dull weather making it tougher for retailers to entice consumers into stores, leading to the weakest growth since March 2006. July's poor figures are compounded by unfavourable comparisons to last July when a sustained heatwave drove footfall and boosted sales."
"Particularly hard-hit by the poor weather was the clothing sector where aggressive discounting failed to prevent a year-on-year fall in sales of men's and women's summer ranges. Traditional summer impulse buys were also hard to shift."
"However the unseasonable weather wasn't bad news for all sectors. Sales of books and other home entertainments held up well, driven largely by the release of the new Harry Potter book, which attracted customers into stores where they were often enticed to make further purchases."
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
