Blitz Bureau
BRITISH retail sales volumes fell by more than expected in June, after unseasonably cooler weather put off shoppers, official figures showed on July 19, as per a Reuters report. Sales volumes dropped by 1.2% last month after a 2.9% jump in May, the Office for National Statistics said.
Inflation pressures
A poll of economists had on average forecast sales volumes would drop by 0.4% on the month. While wages are now rising more quickly than inflation, British shoppers have been squeezed by high inflation over the past two years. It has slowed recently and held at the Bank of England’s 2% target last month. However, underlying inflation pressures have diminished hopes among investors for an interest rate cut on August 1, the date of the BoE’s next scheduled monetary policy announcement.
Lisa Hooker, PWC’s leader of industry for consumer markets, said shoppers were still reluctant to spend despite the fall in inflation and wage increases. “The cooler, wetter weather over spring and early summer, combined with longer term uncertainty in the period prior to the election, has discouraged shoppers from both buying seasonal goods and making longer-term big ticket purchases,” Hooker said.
Britain held a parliamentary election on July 4 that was won by the Labour Party. The figures showed that over the 12 months to June 2024, volumes fell by 0.2% and were 1.3% below their pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
