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Retail sales growth practically ground to a halt in February, according to the CBI’s latest quarterly Distributive Trades Survey.
The survey of 138 firms including 62 retailers showed that both volume of retail sales and orders failed to meet expectations of growth in February, following six months of buoyant sales.
Some 30% of respondents reported that sales volumes were up on a year ago, while 29% said they were down, giving a balance of +1%, this was significantly below expectations of +42% and the lowest since November 2013 (+1%).
Despite this, the CBI said that retailers still expect a moderate improvement in their business situation over the next three months. Rain Newton-Smith, CBI director of economics, said: “After a strong start to the year, retailers were disappointed by the unexpected halt in sales growth. In particular, continually heavy discounting in the grocers sector seems to be weighing on activity.
“Looking ahead, the outlook for the retail sector is fairly positive, with the boost to household incomes from falling inflation likely to support spending. Indeed, firms remain upbeat about the businesses situation over the coming quarter.
“However, as this survey shows, overall trading conditions on the high street remain challenging.”
