Retail sales continue to enjoy monthly growth, despite an overall yearly slump hampering sales in particular sub-sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The findings were announced by the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) in its latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey, in which 124 firms showed a third-successive month of firmly above-average sales growth.\u00a0 Sales growth was the fastest for more than three years over the three-month period of August to October.<\/p>\n
However, the growth was not shared amongst all areas of the sector.\u00a0 Hardware and DIY suffered a fall in October, shadowed by a cooling housing market and Homebase\u2019s recent announcement that it is closing stores due to a diminished interest from consumers in home improvement.<\/p>\n
The CBI said sales at chemists and at specialist food and drink firms also fell.<\/p>\n
The survey suggested that retailers remained upbeat about the month ahead, which contrasts to a report earlier this month from the British Retail Consortium that indicated high street and online stores had put in their weakest performance since the depths of the recession.<\/p>\n
Rain Newton-Smith, CBI Director of Economics, said: \u201cSales on our high streets are still tickling along and, with similar prospects next month, retail growth is looking more stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clothing sector in particular appears to be bouncing back after the mild weather in September deterred people from buying their winter warmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its survey, 48% of retailers said sales volumes increased in the year to September, compared to only 17% saying they had fallen.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the figures, Howard Archer, economist at HIS Global Insight, said: \u201cFollowing some recent mixed news on the economy, a very decent October CBI distributive trades survey provides some reassurance that consumers are still prepared to spend at a healthy rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetailers will be very much hoping that this remains the case as the critical Christmas period looms on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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