THE value of Scottish retail sales last month was down sharply on a year earlier, in contrast to a rise in the UK as a whole, the latest industry figures have revealed.
The figures signal no change to the pattern of significantly weaker year-on-year movements in sales value in Scotland than in the UK as a whole in recent times.
The Scottish Retail Consortium has highlighted a north-south gap in consumer confidence as a key factor in this relative weakness. It has also cited the boost to retail sales figures for the UK as a whole from the stronger economic and housing market performance in London and south-east England.
Meanwhile, Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute has flagged the huge impact of UK Government welfare cuts on the spending power of low-income households north of the Border.
The SRC’s latest monthly figures, published today, show that the total value of Scottish retail sales in November was down by 2.3 per cent on the same month of last year.
In the UK as a whole, total retail sales value last month was up by 0.7 per cent on November 2014.
The SRC figures show that the value of food sales in Scotland in November was down by 2.2 per cent on the same month of last year. This fall was the least steep since June.
Non-food sales value in Scotland last month was down by 2.3 per cent on November 2014.
However, the SRC estimated that, adjusting for the impact of online trading, non-food sales would have been up by about 0.4 per cent. This estimate is based on figures for online sales in the UK as a whole.
David McCorquodale, head of accountancy firm and SRC survey sponsor KPMG’s UK retail sector practice, said: “The evidence suggests Scottish consumers are waiting for promoted bargains before committing to spend. The unknown element of this stand-off is whether retailers will feed this discount addiction before Christmas or hold their nerve and their margins.”
He added: “The 2.2 per cent decline in total food sales is the best performance since June but the grocers will be keen to see better recovery in this segment over the Christmas period.
“With little to cheer from November’s trading, retailers will be hoping for a dry yet chilly run-in to Christmas and let the theatre of the store drive sales rather than an internet bombardment of basement bargains. Consumers, on the other hand, will test the resolve in the search for value.”
David Martin, head of policy and external affairs at the SRC, said: “Learning the lessons from last year, consumers ducked the frenzy of the Black Friday bargain hunt on the high street and made more of their purchases online in November. As the lines between retail channels become increasingly blurred, a disappointing set of headline store figures masks a positive non-food retail performance.”
Figures published earlier this week by the SRC and sector specialist Springboard showed that retail footfall in Scotland in November was down by 4.2 per cent on the same month of last year.
This was the sharpest year-on-year drop in retail footfall in Scotland since January 2013.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel