Press Room
Grant Thornton's Head of Retail comments on ONS monthly retail
sales figures
If you are writing on today's ONS Retail Sales
statistics, please consider the following comment from David Bush,
Head of Retail Services at Grant Thornton.
The volume of retail sales for February 2009 slowed markedly to
a growth of only 0.4% compared to the same period last year. This
is the lowest growth rate since September 1995. Retail sales volume
in the three months from December to February rose by only 2.0%
compared with the previous three months and the fall in "other
stores' " sales volumes from January to February 2009 of 4.8% was
the highest fall since records began in 1986.
"Today's results come as no real surprise and are a further blow
to the UK retail sector. What makes for particular grim reading is
that this slow growth has now affected all sectors of retail
including the food sector which had held up relatively well in the
past year. It is also extremely worrying to see falls in volumes
from January which is traditionally retailers' quietest month",
says David Bush, Head of Retail Services at Grant Thornton.
"With daily news of insecurity in the job market, negative
growth in UK GDP and house prices continuing to slide there is
little incentive for consumers to get back out and spend on the
high street. The five interest rate cuts since October last year
,together with the reduction in VAT in December, have provided
little boost to the economy and shoppers are currently more keen to
save and reduce existing debt levels," concludes Bush.