Scottish retail sales fall in February
Retailers in Scotland suffered another disappointing month as total sales in February fell 0.6% on the same month last year when they increased by 1.6%.
The figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium showed that the fall was not as large as in previous months. However, the SRC said it was the worst February year-on-year performance since its survey began in 1999.
Like-for-like sales were 1.7% lower than a year ago, when they had fallen 1.3%. Food sales growth increased slightly but was still below the rate of inflation, which meant that shoppers actually bought less than a year ago. Non-food sales remained down on a year ago but the decline was less than January’s record fall.
On both like-for-like and total measures, sales were weaker than for the whole of the UK.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Ian Shearer, Scottish Retail Consortium director, said: “Food did better than January as people restocked but most non-food goods struggled seriously. Especially for big-ticket items, it’s taking margin-sapping discounts to generate the sales that are happening because many customers are still afraid to spend where they don’t have to.”
David McCorquodale, head of retail in Scotland for KPMG, said: “Until an upturn is truly felt through jobs, wages or net income, it seems that no level of promotion or discounting from the retailer can really lift the gloom.
“Many retailers feel they are fighting hard just to stand still at best and don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”
He added: “However, there are retailers out there who deliver what the customer wants and needs – in terms of product, brand and price – which proves that if the proposition is spot-on it is still possible to outperform the market and the competition.”
