UK retail sales fell 0.5 per cent in July as shoppers cut back during record temperatures, according to the Office for National Statistics, reversing the rise recorded in June at the start of the warm summer and the Fifa men’s World Cup.
The monthly fall was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters. June’s increase was revised down from 1 per cent to 0.7 per cent, and July’s drop wiped out that gain.
Over a rolling three-month period, sales volumes are up 1.1 per cent, the ONS said.
Spending on clothing, footwear and household goods all fell in July. Excluding petrol and diesel, sales volumes recorded a larger 0.9 per cent monthly contraction. Pump prices rose in July after the end of a US-Iran ceasefire pushed up global oil costs.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said British consumers had ramped up spending on sports merchandise, fans and outdoor products.
Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon, a consultancy, said consumer spending would be squeezed in the coming months as energy costs drove inflation towards 3 per cent. Annual consumer prices rose by 2.9 per cent in July, up from 2.6 per cent in June.
Sandra Prince, head of consumer at Lloyds, said the warm weather meant more spending had been directed to retail parks and online shopping rather than the high street.
“After an extended spell of warm weather across large parts of the UK, many households will already have bought what they need for the season, while lines of popular summer products come to an end. The boost from the World Cup that came to an end in the first half of July also meant fewer opportunities to capitalise on the warmer conditions,” Prince said.
“For retailers, as the summer peak slows down, attention is now turning to the opportunities the autumn could bring to keep consumers engaged.”
