Shoppers stayed away from Britain’s high streets in April as cold weather dampened demand for summery clothes, prompting the sharpest decrease in sales in more than four years.
The poor weather and intense competition for customers dented sales, according to the CBI, defying expectations of a resurgence.
Consumers bought fewer clothes, shoes and household goods compared with the same month last year. Department store sales were also weaker.
Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s director of economics, said: “Cold weather put a chill in sales of spring and summer ranges with a reported dip in retail sales in the year to April, but with the near-term outlook for household spending holding up the sector expects a modest rise in sales next month.
“However, with margins remaining tight within the sector, retailers will continue to operate in a fiercely competitive environment for some time.”
Of the 117 companies surveyed by the business lobby group, just 22% reported a rise in sales compared with last April, while 36% said sales were lower.
The resulting balance of -13% was the weakest since January 2012, and compared with 7% in March, according to the CBI’s distributive trends survey.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the timing of Easter – which fell earlier this year than last – was probably partly to blame for the sharp drop in sales. Sales would have been bolstered in April 2015 by the holidays, he said.
Tombs added: “Consumers, however, clearly have tightened their purse strings this year. This slowdown is likely to continue, given the intensification of the fiscal squeeze in April and the recent stagnation of employment.”
The weak survey echoed the wider economy, with Britain’s recovery slowing in the first three months of the year. Growth in GDP was 0.4% in the first quarter, down from 0.6% in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said.
Retailers surveyed by the CBI said they expected sales to be stronger in May, with a balance of 9%, although this was well below the long-term average of 24%.
The survey is the latest indication of the struggle retailers are facing on Britain’s high streets. BHS and Austin Reed have both called in administrators this week after running out of money, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
In the latest available official figures, the ONS said retail sales volumes fell 1.3% in March, a much sharper drop than the 0.1% dip forecast by economists.
The main drag on volumes came from food and clothing, as fashion sales were hit by unsettled weather and the early Easter did little for grocers.
