Retail Beginning To Stabilise

The latest CBI distributive trades’ monthly survey, for September, suggests that retail conditions are beginning to stabilise. Sales are basically unchanged on the year to September and expected to remain so in October. A slight majority of retailer respondents to the survey reported sales volumes had risen over the year.

The results are better than expected following months of falling sales. Volumes of orders fell slightly but the three month moving average fall is slowing down. Retailers are keeping stocks low but are more than adequate to meet demand.

The sectors contributing to the overall figures include grocers, footwear and leather goods reporting good year-on-year results. All other sectors are falling, but the pace is slowing for clothing and furniture and carpets. Wholesale is ‘flat’ but are expected to fall next month. Food and drink, clothing, footwear and textiles reported the strongest growth. The hardest hit were industrial materials, builders’ merchants and electrical installation materials. Motor traders sale volumes were more or less unchanged in due partly to the scrappage scheme. They had been expected to grow in the year to September and are expected to fall next month.

Not Much Change In Retail Trades

Retailers reported yet another fall in retail sales volumes for the first two weeks of June compared with last year in the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey results. The decline was more or less what was expected, more than last month but not as much as the previous month and nothing like the falls that have been witnessed during the last year. Retailers also reported that they expect sales to fall for another month in July. Stocks are more than adequate to meet demand so retailers have been slowly cutting back on orders with their suppliers. Sectors to see some growth include grocers and furniture and carpets. Durables, hardware, china, DIY and clothing showed sharp declines. The fall in the wholesale sector was sharper than the previous two months. If the fall extends into July it will be the thirteenth month in a row of falling sales. The hardest hit were the industrial and builders merchants wholesalers. Agricultural machinery and food and drink wholesalers saw no change on the year. The scrappage scheme may have had something to do with the motor sectors best sales figures for over a year.