UK retail sales values were up 1.9% on a like-for-like basis from March 2012, when they had risen 1.3% on the preceding year. On a total basis, sales were up 3.7%, against a 3.6% rise in March 2012.
· Growth is inflated by the timing of Easter, which fell in March this year but in April last year. Unseasonable weather hindered fashion categories.
· Adjusted for Shop Price Index inflation at 1.4% in March, total retail sales values grew 2.3% in real terms.
 |
Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “This is a positive result, which rounds off a first quarter of cautious optimism for many retailers. Easter fell in March this year but April in 2012, which helps this year’s figures, especially for items which tend to sell well over the long weekend like food and homewares. But even if we strip out the data for the last week of March, performances are encouraging, considering the weather impact.
“Snow and the prolonged cold were not ideal but not a disaster. They brought mixed fortunes for different categories. Food was boosted by a continued appetite for hearty meals and ‘wintry’ fare such as roasts and chocolate. But demand was cool for new season clothing and footwear lines, resulting in a decline for both categories.
“2013 has got off to an encouraging start for the market as a whole. Retailers are now hoping for a boost in consumer confidence and the general mood to lift performance across all, not just some sectors, as we head into the second quarter. Getting a bit of sunshine, at long last, might help that along!”
 |
David McCorquodale, Head of Retail, KPMG, said: “The early Easter this year certainly boosted the March sales figures and food and drink sales in particular soared as people stocked up to enjoy the long weekend. There was also a welcome rise in house-related spending over the Easter break.
“Easter distortions aside, the three-month average figures paint a positive picture and show the highest like-for-like sales increases since December 2009. On the back of strong January and February results, this may be the beginning of a positive trend and will be welcomed by many retailers.
“However, some sectors were hit by the wintry weather. Clothing and footwear retailers had a dismal month as the cold weather froze sales, leaving Summer skirts and sandals on the shelves. This year-on-year fall is made worse by the strong sales seen last March when a veritable heatwave drove sales of Spring stock. Clothing and footwear retailers will be desperate for a change in weather in April.
“With Easter falling early this year, the April sales comparatives will be negatively affected but it is hoped that the positive bounce of the first quarter of 2013 can continue to be felt across the country, buoyed by the opening of new shopping centres in cities such as Leeds.”
|
Food & Drink sector performance – Joanne Denney-Finch, Chief Executive, IGD, said: “The lead-up to Easter and Mother’s Day were the top two food and drink sales weeks of the year so far.“Spending on alcohol was particularly strong before Easter, proving people are still celebrating the special occasions.
“Although reading the market is tricky at this time of year because of the shifting date of Easter, there is cause for optimism.
“Our ShopperVista research shows that 17 percent of shoppers expect to be better off in the year ahead – the highest level we’ve seen since January 2011, when we began tracking this.”
Online* (Non-Food) – Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “The good overall picture wasn’t reflected online. Sales growth was the slowest since August, when the Olympics left many of us ‘otherwise engaged’ with little interest in shopping. Fundamentally, online retailing is still strong, but in March it outperformed overall retailing by the smallest margin we’ve recorded.
“The fact that many of us are out and about or spending time with family can have an impact on online sales over Easter, but there may be another factor in play. Increasingly retail searches that customers start online, finish with them buying in stores. This ‘omni-channel’ approach could be one reason behind the narrowing gap. In any case, what we’re seeing is almost certainly a short-lived interlude. I would expect next month’s figures to be more in line with the annual average for this rapidly growing channel to market.”
Online* (non-food): % change year-on-year
|
% change
year-on-year
|
|
|
March 2013
|
6.6%
|
|
March 2012
|
13.9%
|
|
6m average
|
10.2%
|
|
12m average
|
10.4%
|
|
Averages weighted by number of weeks (4-4-5) in monthly trading period
|
|
*Online (including mail order and phone) sales of non-food goods.
Commentary
It was obvious from the BRC Omni-Retailing Conference, held on 5 March, that the borders between channels are blurred by the ever-increasing complexity of the customer journey to a purchase. Telephone advice, email orders, mobile alerts, tablet browsing and social media exchanges are only a few of the steps available to the customer to reach a product. Indeed, retailers regard using the internet and their own sites more and more as a marketing device to drive traffic to their stores than as a simple selling tool. Our figures suggest that the effect of non-store sales boosted the UK non-food growth by 0.4% in March 2013.
 |
Food sales: 3-month average Non-food sales: 3-month average
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)
Like-for-like sales: 3-month average % change year-on-year
|
LFL
|
3-month average
|
|
Food
|
2.5%
|
|
Non-food
|
1.9%
|
|
All Sales
|
2.2%
|
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)
Food/Non-Food Quarterly Analysis: 3-month average % change year-on-year
|
Like-for-like
|
Total
|
|||||
|
Food
|
Non-Food
|
All Sales
|
Food
|
Non-Food
|
All Sales
|
|
|
Dec 2011 – Feb 2012
|
1.9
|
-0.3
|
0.6
|
4.9
|
1.4
|
2.9
|
|
Jan – Mar
|
1.2
|
-0.4
|
0.3
|
4.3
|
1.5
|
2.7
|
|
Feb – Apr
|
0.6
|
-1.6
|
-0.6
|
3.7
|
0.3
|
1.8
|
|
Mar – May
|
0.4
|
-0.6
|
-0.2
|
3.5
|
1.1
|
2.1
|
|
Apr – Jun
|
0.1
|
-0.2
|
-0.1
|
3.0
|
1.4
|
2.1
|
|
May – Jul
|
0.9
|
1.0
|
0.9
|
3.8
|
2.4
|
3.0
|
|
Jun – Aug
|
0.8
|
0.2
|
0.4
|
3.7
|
1.6
|
2.5
|
|
Jul – Sep
|
0.7
|
0.3
|
0.5
|
3.5
|
1.6
|
2.4
|
|
Aug – Oct
|
0.7
|
0.2
|
0.4
|
3.4
|
1.3
|
2.1
|
|
Sept – Nov
|
0.6
|
0.7
|
0.7
|
3.0
|
1.7
|
2.2
|
|
Oct – Dec
|
0.3
|
0.1
|
0.2
|
2.5
|
0.7
|
1.5
|
|
Nov 2012 – Jan 2013
|
1.0
|
0.7
|
0.8
|
3.1
|
1.3
|
2.1
|
|
Dec 2012 – Feb 2013
|
1.0
|
1.9
|
1.5
|
3.1
|
2.7
|
2.8
|
|
Jan – Mar 2013
|
2.5
|
1.9
|
2.2
|
4.7
|
2.9
|
3.7
|
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)
3-Month Averages
The three-month weighted average is calculated by using the monthly weighted results for both food and non-food categories, and applying a weighting to the result to take into account the 4-4-5 week trading pattern for the months covered.
Sector performance (total sales) – by Anne Alexandre, Senior Analyst, BRC
|
Category
|
Growing/Falling
March 2013
LFL Total
|
|
Mar 2013
|
Rankings
Mar 2012
|
(Total sales)
Feb 2013
|
Rolling
12m
|
|
House Textiles
|
 |
|
1
|
6
|
4
|
1
|
|
Furniture & Flooring
|
|
|
2
|
7
|
2
|
7
|
|
Home Accessories
|
|
|
3
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
|
Food
|
|
|
4
|
2
|
6
|
3
|
|
Health and Beauty
|
 |
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
|
Other Non-Food
|
|
|
6
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
|
Clothing
|
 |
|
7
|
3
|
5
|
6
|
|
Footwear
|
|
|
8
|
1
|
8
|
2
|
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)
Food
Food & Drink was the fourth best performing category last month, on top of having been the second best performing category in March 2012. Popular products were roasts and oven chips to fight the cold throughout the month, treats – particularly chocolate – for Mother’s Day, beer and ready meals to watch the fiercely contested conclusion of the Six-Nations Rugby, custard and ingredients for home-made crumbles, anything red and fit for baking in support of Comic Relief, fresh meat from the counter, Easter eggs, hot cross buns and more chocolate in the run-up to Easter. The trend towards opening local store formats is continuing among large retailers, as several announced new stores in March. Large food retailers are also looking at reinforcing their online presence and distribution capabilities. London Underground has unveiled the creation of virtual supermarkets in some of its stations. Excluding average food inflation at 3.6% over the last three months according to the Shop Price Index (SPI), Food sales grew 1.1% in real terms on average over that period.
Non-Food recorded better real terms growth, at 3.3%, after accounting for deflation at 0.4%.
Clothing
As the weather turned colder in March and showed no signs of the coming of Spring, there was still demand for Winter ranges, with coats, gloves and knitwear doing best while they lasted. After an encouraging pick-up in February, the category saw a weather-related decline in March, particularly women’s. Given the cold, there was no appetite for cropped trousers or even Spring colours. What sold well in the new range were the products that had been targeted for special launches and benefitted from public relations events and media coverage. Some women’s prints, notably floral and stripes, were reported to do well. Nightwear stood out for its good performance, as people were extra keen to keep warm at night.
Footwear sales were against very strong comparatives as March 2012 had seen the highest footwear sales growth in several years. This, combined with the persistently cold weather, made Footwear the weakest category in the period. There was no point buying sandals last month whereas those had seen strong demand during the sunny spell of the equivalent period in 2012. The standout performers were slippers and wellies. Footwear and Clothing were the only two categories to record a decline last month. Generally retailers were holding off from discounting the new ranges in the hope that customers were only postponing their purchases rather than cancelling them altogether.
Health and Beauty
Beauty was boosted by discounting and customer activity around Mother’s Day. Aspirational brands performed well. Healthcare products, packs of tissues together with cold and flu medications continued to sell well as the freezing temperatures remained. Bronzing, on the other hand, and seasonal products in general, were well down on last year, which had seen warm and sunny days. The category slipped in ranking as it is not one that benefits from Easter.
Furniture and Flooring
Furniture and floorcoverings confirmed in March the revival initiated in February as the category ranked second among all eight. However, growth remained reliant on advertising and promotional activity and was not experienced by all retailers.
Home Accessories
Home Accessories was helped by promotional activity around Mother’s Day and by the timing of Easter, which fell in March this year, as it was one week earlier than last year. Hence, themed table decorations did well, together with kitchen accessories and cutlery. The category achieved its best performance since last April.
House Textiles
House Textiles climbed to best performing category last month. The unseasonal weather stimulated sales of duvets while the early timing of Easter ensured good demand for table cloths and small decorative items. Those remain popular to give the house a makeover without spending too much.
Other Non-Food
Includes in particular:
– Toys
Toys in general picked up again in March, including video games, perhaps helped by the preference for indoor activities to keep warm.
– DIY / Gardening
The Easter weekend, usually important for DIY retailers, was hit by the cold weather last month, which made for unfavourable year-on-year comparisons, particularly for outdoor goods like barbecues and garden furniture.
As March 2012 had been boosted by the launch of the iPad 3 and the run-up to the switchover to digital TV, showing growth this year was a tall order, but the category managed to achieve it, albeit modestly. Heaters saw good demand during the coldest March recorded since 1962, ending with the coldest Easter Sunday on record. The small electricals segment achieved the best year-on-year growth: Mother’s Day was the occasion to demonstrate again the popularity of small kitchen appliances such as food processors, while baking was a popular indoors activity to stay away from the freeze. Beauty-related items and white goods also had a good month.
Department Stores
March’s unseasonal weather played to the advantage of department stores, thanks to the breadth of their offer, as those categories hit by the weather were compensated by those stimulated by the cold. Mother’s Day provided another boost to handbags.
RETAIL SALES VALUE: % change year-on-year
|
Month
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
|||
|
Like-for-like
|
Total
|
Like-for-like
|
Total
|
Like-for-like
|
Total
|
|
|
January
|
2.3
|
4.2
|
-0.3
|
2.1
|
1.9
|
3.0
|
|
February
|
-0.4
|
1.1
|
-0.3
|
2.3
|
2.7
|
4.4
|
|
March
|
-3.5
|
-1.9
|
1.3
|
3.6
|
1.9
|
3.7
|
|
April
|
5.2
|
6.9
|
-3.3
|
-1.0
|
|
|
|
May
|
-2.1
|
-0.3
|
1.3
|
3.4
|
|
|
|
June
|
-0.6
|
1.5
|
1.4
|
3.5
|
|
|
|
July
|
0.6
|
2.5
|
0.1
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
August
|
-0.6
|
1.5
|
-0.4
|
1.6
|
|
|
|
September
|
0.3
|
2.5
|
1.5
|
3.4
|
|
|
|
October
|
-0.6
|
1.5
|
-0.1
|
1.1
|
|
|
|
November
|
-1.6
|
0.7
|
0.4
|
1.8
|
|
|
|
December
|
2.2
|
4.1
|
0.3
|
1.5
|
|
|
|
Jan – Mar
|
-0.8
|
0.9
|
0.3
|
2.7
|
2.2
|
3.7
|
|
0.1
|
2.0
|
0.2
|
2.2
|
|
|
|
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)
BRC-KPMG Like-for-like and Total Retail Sales Year-on-Year Growth:
|
|
LFL
|
Total
|
|
Mar 2013
|
1.9%
|
3.7%
|
|
Feb 2013
|
2.7%
|
4.4%
|
|
3m rolling
average
|
2.2%
|
3.7%
|
|
12m rolling
average
|
0.7%
|
2.4%
|
Monthly growth of total retail sales
3m rolling average growth over five years
Source: BRC-KPMG RSM (Food data from IGD)