Non-food non-store retail sales up in August

The British Retail Consortium and KPMG recently released their latest survey on UK retailers, which found non-food sales dropped below 2010 levels, with footwear and homewares showing the largest declines. The consortium blamed poor consumer confidence and the continued troubled housing market for the weak non-food sales numbers.

Non-food non-store sales, however, experienced significant growth, with sales up 12.6 percent from August 2010. The recent riots affecting many towns and cities across the UK did not appear to impact overall sales, but economic concerns did hinder spending.

"The retail sector's performance for August has been essentially flat, particularly bearing in mind the increase in value added tax which will be responsible for some of the growth in spending," Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said.

Non-food non-store trading increased 12.8 percent in August compared to 2010, forcing many in-store retailers to cut margins with discounts and deals to entice UK shoppers away from online retailers.

"Promotional activity remains high to drive footfall and interest which is a delicate balancing act for retailers to ensure the volume uplift compensates for margin losses," Dickinson said.

The BDO High Streets Sales Tracker said retail stores reported their worst month in sales in the past two years due to the local riots, despite the BRC stating the riots did not affect retail sales.