Retail boost as sales rise

Mad March sees shoppers flood back

HIGH street shops had a marvellous March as sales soared 6.7% compared with March 2018, the highest increase for two and a half years.

The warmer weather last month brought shoppers out to snap up new outfits, and there was also an increase in food sales.

The figures published by the Office for National Statistics were boosted by the fact that a year ago the country was in the grip of the Beast From The East storm, and shoppers stayed at home.

But sales were also up on February’s figures, climbing 1.1% month on month, confounding economic experts who predicted a 0.3% slump.

Figures for the first three months of the year, which smooth out monthly volatility, showed sales grew by 1.6% compared with the previous quarter, following sustained growth and representing the strongest increase since August 2018.

Tellingly, department stores were the only sector to suffer a fall in sales – down 0.3% – when compared with last March.

Ed Monk of Fidelity International said: “The positive retail sales data reflects a slow recovery from a decade-long wage squeeze and, perhaps, a willingness to look through the apparently neverending uncertainty that is Brexit.”

But analyst Howard Archer of the EY Item Club warned that the positive figures could have been down to Brexit stockpiling ahead of the March 29 leave date.

“It is very possible that retail sales could have gained a lift in March from some stockpiling of goods by consumers wary of a disruptive Brexit at the end of March,” he said.

“If we all spend April using up our stockpiles of tinned beans and toilet roll, retail sales will suffer.”