UK retail sales dipped in 0.3 percent October, with unusually warmer weather disrupting sales for the period.
Overall, retail year-on-year sales fell for the first time in October, since 2013, according to the latest figures from the office of national statistics (ONS).
The ONS commented:
“Feedback from a number of clothing retailers suggested that a particularly mild October meant that consumers delayed purchasing winter season clothing. The Met Office summary for October 2017 said that the UK mean temperature was above the long-term average for this period.”
Similarly, Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the warm weather had impacted winter clothing sales.
“Sales were depressed by some one-off factors,” he said.
He continued: “Unseasonably mild weather – average temperatures were 1.7C above their 1970-to-2016 October average – likely was the main driver of the 1.5% month-to-month decline in clothing sales.”
He also noted a general change in consumer attitudes, veering on the side of caution: “Retail sales volumes recovered only partially from September’s 0.7% month-to-month drop, underlining that consumers now have adopted a cautious mindset.”
This marks a noticeable downward trend for retail in the Britain, with retail figures similarly sinking for September, reversing August gains.
Retail sales dipped by 0.8 percent in September, reversing a jump in August and slowing third-quarter retail growth to a year-on-year rate of 1.5 percent. This marks the lowest recorded growth since the second quarter of 2013.
The latest retail figures follow Wednesday’s employment figures, which revealed a drop to 32 million in work. This ultimately marks the largest fall in over a decade.
Moreover, stagnating wages failed to outpace rising inflationary levels, causing further prudence from consumers.
Specifically, wages witnessed a minimal rise of 2.2 percent per year in July-September. Pay taking into consideration bonuses, grew by 2.2 percent.
On the other hand, inflation hit 2.7 percent in August, rising to 3 percent during the September and October months.