Retail sales down by 1.9%, record lost since 1995

"No dip in sales here!"

The British Retail Consortium’s latest Retail Sales Monitor shows a dramatic fall in retail sales values for March this year compared with March 2010. “Total sales are down by 1.9%, the worst fall since we started collecting these figures in 1995” sums up the institution. In an article for Sky News, the British Retail Consortium explains how low consumer confidence has affected retailers and highlights a sad record: retail sales have registered the steepest fall for 16 years.

I'd hazard a guess that they may be one of  the worst ever. I don't take 1995 as a year to gauge "since records began" by. That's only 15 years. The difficulty for retailers is that they are in a double bind. They've got choosy customers on the one hand and ever eager price hikers in the likes of China and India. The latter have got most of the manufacturing of retail products so can get graspy when they want to and customers are drawing their horns in. Not a recipe for a winning set of results.

Somehow the British Retail Consortium needs to figure out a way to make money that isn't fueled by the funny stuff the banks were creating. Quantitative easing is no answer. We all need to get a grip and not be so wasteful and wanting of bargains and bonanzas. Local produce sold locally,. Why not take the Morrisons "High Street" idea a bit further and allow small businesses to operate within large supermarkets? We need ideas to ponder, not doom and gloom statistics.

Posted in: British Retail Consortium,retail