Leather goods and footwear spearhead UK consumer spending growth in April
British consumers shrugged off foot and mouth disease and falling stock markets last month to help the country record better than expected high street spending figures.
Ironically, the strongest sales growth was recorded in leather goods and footwear, with 84% of retailers surveyed saying that sales were significantly up compared with April 2000. Retailers of groceries, hardware, household goods and pharmaceuticals also reported buoyant sales. Specialist food stores were one of only a few sectors to report a fall-off in spending.
Reported by the Confederation of British Industry, as part of its monthly Distributive Trades Survey, the figures have raised hopes that the impact of the US economic slowdown may be short-lived, damping expectations of deep interest rate cuts.
Alastair Eperon, Chairman of the Distributive Trades Panel, said: "The survey suggests that retailers are expecting sales volumes to continue to grow at a healthy pace. The U.S. slowdown does not yet seem to be affecting consumers' confidence. But other official retail data suggest that the rise in sales volumes is broadly in line with the rise in value, implying that there is very little upward pressure on prices."
