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Growth in UK retail sales and consumer spending picked up last month as warm weather boosted purchases of summer clothing and food for barbecues.
The value of retail sales rose by an annual rate of 1 per cent in August, up from 0.5 per cent in the previous month and above the three-month average of 0.4 per cent, said the British Retail Consortium, a trade body, on Tuesday.
The monthly figures are monitored for early indications of consumer spending ahead of official data, which will be published at the end of September.
Improved spending bodes well for the UK economy in the second half of the year after output expanded faster in Britain than in any other G7 country in the first six months.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said sales growth had “picked up” in August, particularly for food “as people came together to host barbecue and picnic gatherings for family and friends”. There was also an uplift in spending on summer clothing and health and beauty products “as people prepared for trips away and summer social events”, she noted.
The trade body’s data, collected with consultancy KPMG, chimes with separate figures published on Tuesday by Barclays. They showed that consumer card spending returned to growth in August, rising at an annual rate of 1 per cent after two consecutive months of decline.
Spending on groceries increased 1.9 per cent in August, the largest rise since March, according to Barclays. The increase was driven by robust growth at food and drink stores, such as butchers and delicatessens, with Britons “enjoying barbecues and picnics outdoors in the sunshine”.
Barclays said the overall retail sector also benefited from an 8 per cent increase in spending at garden centres, the largest uptick in the category so far this year, as drier and hotter weather encouraged consumers to spend more on sprucing up outdoor spaces.
Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “The long-awaited British summer has unlocked pent-up demand across a number of retail categories, such as garden centres and butchers, as many Brits dusted off their barbecue for the first time this year.”
However, both the BRC and Barclays figures remain below the official rate of CPI inflation, which in July ticked up to 2.2 per cent from the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. This means that consumers continued to cut back on the quantity of goods they bought last month, albeit by less than in previous months.
