UK retail sales get summer boost

Good for retail sales

Despite a few weeks ago, when Retail EU reported that the 2010 World Cup will affect high street retailers negatively, a combination of the football tournament and sunny weather has seen retails sales grow by their fastest pace since March.

According to figures from the British Retail Consortium, sales rose 1.2 percent on a like-for-like basis, which ignores new store openings, compared with June 2009, up from 0.8 percent in May.

As one would expect, DIY and leisure sales did well in the beautiful weather as did electronic sales, buoyed by the World Cup as well as the introduction of 3D technology in British stores.

Total sales, which include the effect of increased floorspace, were up 3.4 percent on last year, again the best result since March. Shoppers were also attracted by early summer discounts.

Before the tournament started, there were fears that initial retail boosts would soon fall off. At the time, Don Williams, Head of Retail at BDO LLP commented, "After two very strong weeks, there was a marked deceleration in high street spending this week with most retailers reporting slower growth. We didn't see double-digit gains this time as excited England supporters, quite apparently, were preoccupied with supporting their favourite team."

However the good weather has seen consumers continue to turn out to spend their money, be it on football paraphernalia or cold drinks and BBQ food. However, whereas general food sales have stayed around the same as in May, clothing and footwear sales growth slowed, as many people had already bought summer clothing the month before.

As for non-food, non-store sales in June, such as internet, mail-order and phone sales, were 17.3 percent higher than a year ago, down from 21.9 percent in May. However June's gain was against a similar increase in June 2009, while May's gain was against a weak May 2009.

So while footfall may have been affected by the football, the sunny weather appears to have made up for it.

Relevant articles:

Sharp drops in EU retail trade | High streets hit by World Cup | FIFA World Cup 2010 adds £1.6 billion GDP to UK economy

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