21 April 2023
The British Independent Retailers Association has said figures showing that retail sales volumes in the UK fell by 0.9% between February and March were 'disappointing'.
Bira, which works with over 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes across the UK, commented on the figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which revealed that department and clothing stores particularly suffered during this time frame, which was the wettest March since 1836.
Also suffering due to the poor weather were sales at food shops, as these fell by 0.7% following shortages of some products.
But BIRA said the poor weather wasn't only to blame.
Andrew Goodacre, BIRA CEO said: "These figures are very disappointing and reflect much of the feedback we have received from indie retailers throughout the UK. The weather has had a negative impact but there can be no doubting that we are seeing the impact of reduced consumer spending. Very high inflation on essentials like food (19% last month) means that shoppers have less money to spend on other more discretionary items such as clothing.
"These figures also come at a time when costs for small retailers will increase significantly with increases in National Minimum Wage and especially energy costs. The government support for energy costs has effectively ended and this will result in real business pressures faced by the businesses and clearly, increased sales will not compensate.
"I urge the government and the energy suppliers to rethink their approach to reducing the burden of energy on the smaller businesses. We hope sales will improve in the second half of the year, but we fear that we may lose many businesses before that materialises," he added.
Earlier this week, the ONS confirmed that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation has dropped to 10.1% from 10.4% the prior month.
However, food prices have soared due to factors such as the war in Ukraine, meaning that prices of grains and vegetable oils have increased. There has also been a rise in transport and packaging costs.
Some of the sharpest rises have been in olive oil which has risen by 49%, milk by 38%, and ready meals by 21%.
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