January sales - the worst for 15 years

Just an illusion?

The news makes any talk of an economic recovery largely illusory. Confidence is still very low, as shown by our official crawl rate – 0.1% - out of recession.

It also stirs fears again of a possible double dip recession. January is a crucial trading month for many retailers. "The snow boosted food sales in the first week of January as people stocked up on essentials," says the BRC, "but hit non-food, especially discretionary items. When the weather improved, food sales slowed but non-food staged a partial recovery."

Over the month, food, clothing and footwear showed gains on a year ago. But homewares and furniture showed declines the BRC added. The BRC's director-general Stephen Robertson declared the figures the worst January sales in 15 years.

Reality's more complicated

So it's all completely awful? No. There's still quite a lot of contradictory information swilling around. For example, the Nationwide Building Society reported recently that UK consumer confidence was up markedly on December.

Retailers like Tesco are still experiencing strong sales (Tesco reported its strongest sales increase in three months last month).

In other words, it's all just terribly fragile. Witness the collapse yesterday of Merseyside-based retail chain Ethel Austin and its 300 stores.

Links (opens in new window)

Sales hit by snow and economics - PA
Ethel Austin joins caualty list - Times
British Retail Consortium