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August London Retail Sales Figures Are Encouraging

Tuesday 16th of September 2008 09:28:16 PM

After several bleak months when retail sales including fashion and durable goods have indicated declines in consumer spending from month to month for the last several months, it was refreshing to see a glimmer of hope. Retail sales reported in August 2008 for central London showed a like-for-like comparison increase of 8.2%. That was good news after several months of decline which led High Street and government monitors to wonder if consumers would continue to cut back their household budgets.

The 8.2% was less than the increase reported a year ago in August 2007. Last August there was a like-for-like increase of 9.8% in central London retail sales. The 8.2% may not be as high as that reported a year ago August, but it is higher than the 1.0% decline reported for the whole of the United Kingdom.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, was quoted as saying, “A strong performance for central London compared with the rest of the UK. For many, miserable August weather and high fuel costs made indoor London shopping more attractive than outdoor leisure or trips further afield. Heavy discounting, tourist spending and Londoners' greater resilience to the slowdown also kept sales growing.”

The strong Euro has lured western European shoppers to do plenty of overseas UK shopping. Retailers have been offering discounts and special clothing sales to encourage consumers to spend money on clothing including fashion wear, t-shirts, uniforms and leisure clothes such as sweaters and sweatshirts.

The Head of Retail KPMG, Helen Dickinson, said, “Despite the poor August weather, London's retail sales performance has remained buoyant. It has once again outperformed the rest of the UK this month and improved on last month's like-for-like figures by over two percentage points. The significant variation of results between individual retailers highlights that some in London are not immune to the current slowdown being felt by the wider UK retail market."

(c) Joe Zlomek,www.sxc.hu