- Volume sales fall twice as fast as forecast
- Cost-of-living crisis and weather blamed
- Pubs and restaurants the big winners
The wettest July in living memory caused retail sales to tumble 1.2% by volume last month compared with June, twice as much as economists had forecast, as shoppers deserted high streets and even supermarkets.
There was a silver lining, however, as pubs and restaurants benefitted, racking up their tenth successive month of year-on-year sales growth according to the Coffer CGA Business Tracker survey.
WASH-OUT FOR RETAILERS
Figures released today by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) show we bought fewer items last month than we did even in the months before Covid.
Non-food sales were 1.7% lower in July than the previous month, while food sales volumes fell by 2.6% as the increased cost of living meant we put fewer items in our shopping baskets.
Department store sales were 2.9% lower in July with many firms reporting slow sales of household goods such as furniture and lighting as well as clothing.
The only areas of spending which registered an increase were fuel, which increased by 0.7% in volume, and online shopping which rose by 2.8% thanks to promotions and the wet weather.
To illustrate just how much prices have risen over the last few years, volume sales were 2.6% below July 2019 levels last month while sales by value were up 16.3% meaning retail prices have risen on average by around 19% over the period.
GOOD TIMES FOR PUBS AND RESTAURANTS
In contrast to the gloom in the retail sector, the hospitality industry made hay while it rained last month with like-for-like sales up a whopping 7.8% across the managed market.
Pubs have been the leading segment of the sector since May 2022, when year-on-year comparisons started to turn positive again after Covid according to the CGA Coffer tracker.
Pubs and restaurants seem to have picked up trade both during the hot weather in June and during last month’s downpours, with pub like-for-likes up 7% in July and restaurant like-for-likes up 12.2%.
Notably, bars – which are ‘wet-led’ and don’t tend to serve food – saw like-for-like sales drop 7.1% last month, suggesting punters were happy to sit and sup inside during the hot weather but not so much in July.
