Scottish retail sales see continued growth in February
Total retail sales in Scotland edged up 0.7% in February to give a third consecutive month of growth, according to figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium and KPMG.
However, like-for-like sales decreased by 0.1% compared to the same month last year. Taking account of inflation, sales were down by 0.3% in real terms.
Total food sales were 2% up on February 2012, which was the weakest growth since July excluding Christmas. Total non-food sales declined by 0.5% to give the strongest performance since March excluding Christmas.
The SRC said the performance was satisfactory and gave grounds for “cautious optimism”.
Never Miss a Retail Update!SRC head of policy David Martin explained: “This is an encouraging result with February being the third consecutive month of Scottish sales growth and the best three-month average in nearly two years.
“However, total sales didn’t measure up well against those in January and in real terms were down 0.3%. This reminds us that the economy and trading environment remains fragile. Non-food sales continued to rebound in February, showing the strongest performance since March 2012 if pre-Christmas trading is excluded.”
Electricals drove much of the non-food growth but furniture and flooring also performed well.
David McCorquodale, head of retail, KPMG, said: “February’s performance delivered a third consecutive month of growth for the Scottish retail sector, which will give retailers reasons to feel fairly upbeat as we head into Spring.
“The tendency for Scottish schools to take shorter half term breaks than their English and Welsh cousins meant that non-food sales didn’t quite feel the uplift seen in the South, despite being against soft comparables last year. However, the decline was not as steep as it’s been for some time and will thus be viewed with some relief.
“Retailers will now be hoping for an even stronger March, buoyed by Mother’s Day and Easter falling in the same month. The hope is that next week’s budget will deliver a fillip to stimulate consumer spending in the long term, and provide a much needed boost to the sector.”
