- 14
- Feb
According to recent figures, retailers and high street stores enjoyed their strongest January sales in three years. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced that UK retail sales were up 3.1 per cent as consumers hit the January clearance sales.
The figures for January 2006 showed a growth of 0.2 per cent, and January 2005, showed a small increase of just 0.5 per cent.
A 2.1 per cent increase in sales over the last three-months ending January suggests that recent interest rates and proclamations of doom have not slowed consumer confidence, according to the figures from the BRC and professional services provider KPMG.
Aggressive discounting on electrical goods resulted in increased sales, with flat screen televisions selling well.
The BRC warned that the January sales might be short-lived.
Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC, said: “Much of the growth has been driven by the grocery sector and discounting has been fairly widespread in several other categories.
“The comparatives from last year are weak and the November and January interest rate increases have yet to make themselves felt.”
Strong sales lend credence to the reports that state the UK economy is healthy, including the Bank of England’s reports that claim the average UK consumer can repay their personal loans with little discomfort.
Other reports state that 53 per cent of UK consumers will repay their personal loans before the end of 2007.
But it all short of convincing retailers that the economy is strong enough to sustain their businesses through the increased debt management problems. All economic problems hit the retail industry hard.
The 107,000 households who declared insolvency in 2006 represent consumers who are not able to indulge the retail industry, especially the impulse-buy segments of the retail community.
