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Olympics “failed to inspire spending“, says BRC

The lowest retail sales values since November 2011 have been reported, after the “feelgood factor” from the Olympics did not bring about the expected boost to consumer spending.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced a 0.4% drop in figures like-for-like, whereas total sales were up 1.6%, although this is 0.1% lower than August 2011.

Online sales benefitted from “Olympic fever” as internet sales grew by 4.8% in August, however this is the lowest rise since data started being collected in October 2008.

Poor sales values are being put down to low footfall in London in particular, which was offset by visitors to the high street elsewhere.

Non-food items were particularly weak, while there was a temporary boost to food sales, which BRC put down to street parties and Olympic celebrations.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “There’s no evidence here of any Olympic boost to retail sales overall.

“Some retailers told us online activity was particularly thin in the evenings. If people weren’t watching television they were more likely to be following the sport on PCs and mobile devices than shopping.

The economic boost expected from the Olympics failed to deliver, although Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail at KPMG, said the Games have brought about a new confidence in consumers.

She said: “Those areas of spending which are most discretionary suffered, with women’s clothing, furniture, flooring and home related items hit the hardest.

“The challenge remains to accurately forecast outcomes in such a volatile trading environment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .