September suffers sales fall

Retail sales suffered a ‘summer hangover’ in September according to the latest results from the British Retail Consortium/KPMG Sales Monitor.

UK retail sales fell 0.2% during the month compared with 2017, when they had risen by 1.9%.

On a total basis, sales rose 0.7 in September, against an increase of 2.3 per cent in September 2017: the lowest rise since last October, excluding Easter distortions.

In the three months to September, in-store sales of non-food items fell 4% on a like for like basis and 2.7% in total.

Food sales were up 2.3% on a like-for-like basis and 3.4% in total.

Online sales of non-food products rose 5.4% in September, but this was almost half of that seen in 2017: 10.7%.

‘These figures lay bare the difficult operating environment for the retail industry. After a challenging August, constrained consumer spending in September has resulted in the weakest sales growth for five months,’ said Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive.