Bank holidays fail to boost retail sales in May
Posted on in Business News
The three bank holiday weekends in May failed to boost UK retail sales, with growth slowing in May according to new industry data.
The latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor reports total retail sales rising by 3.9% in May, or by 3.7% on an underlying basis, an improvement on May 2022, when retail sales fell by 1.1% and 1.5% on an underlying basis.
But the growth was below the three-month average and well below April, when sales rose by 5.1% or by 5.2% on a like-for-like basis. Food sales increased by 9.8% in May on a like-for-like basis, while non-food sales nudged up just 0.5%.
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The trio of bank holidays failed to get shoppers spending, as sales growth slowed to its lowest level in six months.
“While food sales got a boost from the coronation weekend, this was not sustained for the rest of the month.
“With consumer confidence still recovering from record delays, and continued tightening of household incomes, we are unlikely to see substantial sales growth in the coming months.”
KPMG UK head of retail Paul Martin added that retailers “will be hoping that inflation levels in the wider economy continue to move in the right direction in order to boost much-needed consumer confidence.”
“The wild card for the retail sector remains uncontrollable food inflation, which shows little sign of coming down in the near future and is having a significant knock-on effect on non-essential spending,” Martin said.