Warmer temperatures helped boost UK sales in July

A Sky News article (Retail sales boosted by warm weather but inflation worries loom) reported that UK retail sales in July increased by 2.3% according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). “The summer heatwave prompted shoppers to spend more on summer clothes, picnic food and air conditioning in July, according to the latest figures.”

Planalytics’ Weather-Driven Demand metrics – which isolate and quantify the impact that the weather alone has on consumer purchasing – confirm that warmer temperatures did help lift spending for many summer season categories. For example, Suncare products, BBQ items, sandals, and skirts all saw +5 to +10% WDD gains on a like-for-like basis.

“But the figures are not adjusted for inflation and the consortium said they represented a fall in volume terms… Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said that, with inflation over 9%, many retailers were still contending with falling sales volumes during what ‘remains an incredibly difficult trading period’.”

Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said: “The summer could be the lull before the storm with conditions set to get tougher as consumers arrive back from summer breaks to holiday credit card bills, another energy price hike, and rising interest rates. With stronger cost-of-living headwinds on the horizon, consumers will have to prioritize essentials, and discretionary product spending will come under pressure.”

“Consumer spending was up 7.7% in July compared to a year earlier, figures from Barclaycard showed, boosted by sales of clothing, beauty products and staycations.”

Read the full SKY UK article here.

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