UK footwear and leather goods sales wilt in August heatwave
The run of buoyant leather goods and footwear sales in the
Of the 8 retail groups selling footwear and leather goods that responded to the Distributive Trades Survey for August, 54% said sales and orders were down compared with the year previous while 43% said they were up. The balance (i.e. the difference between the two figures) of -11 was in sharp contrast to the previous month’s score of +81. The scores for April, May and June were +52%, +76% and +75% respectively.
Conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the survey was the first since August 1995 in which extreme heat appeared to affect sales. Other declines were noted in clothing (-6) and furniture and carpets (-36). Growth across all retail sales also slowed, with a score of +12 being posted compared with +27 in July.
However, the CBI said it viewed the slowdown as a blip, pointing to the +28 sales expectations score for all retailers for the next 12 months, the strongest for ten months.
Ian McCafferty, CBI Chief Economic Adviser, said: "The August heatwave proved to be a turn off for shoppers in some sectors. However, retailers' strong expectations for September suggest the slowdown was just a blip. The upturn in investment for the first time in over a year is a healthy sign.”
