Rise in retail offers a Friday feeling
By Simon Hacker | 24th March 2023
Retail sales are going up.
Despite the worsening of inflation figures to 10.4% this week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just released this positive news for our high streets.
February's figures, says the ONS, show a 1.2% rise in sales volumes when set against January, despite the rise in food and drink prices.
With broad economic expectations for a rise of just 0.2%, the February figure indicates consumers may be weathering the storm, reports the Retail Gazette.
And having set volume growth at 0.5% for January, after a tough Christmas, the ONS has revised the figure up to 0.9%.
Discount department stores recorded a 2.4% monthly increase on non-food sales during February, helping to nudge that overall figure to a 1.2% rise.
Darren Morgan, ONS head of economic statistics said: "Retail grew sharply in February with sales returning to their pre-pandemic level.
"However, the broader picture remains more subdued, with retail sales showing little real growth, particularly over the last eighteen months with price rises hitting consumer spending power.
"In the latest month, discount department stores performed strongly with food shops also doing well as consumers, confronted with cost-of-living pressures, cut back on eating out or purchasing takeaways."
Elsewhere, retailing forecasters are hoping that shoppers are being more resilient than may have been forecast at the end of 2022, with some wage rises and the ongoing cap on energy prices lending a helping hand.
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