Scottish retail sales rise 8.2per cent |
Originally published: 20.05.2009 |
The value of retail sales in Scotland in April was up 8.2per cent on the same month last year - according to industry figures today - a huge increase given the backdrop of recession, writes Ian McConnell. Scottish Retail Consortium director Fiona Moriarty highlighted the boost to sales last month from the fact that Easter fell in April this year but in March in 2008.
She also noted that demand for summer clothing had been aided last month by the thirdwarmest April since 1914.
The 8.2per cent year-on-year rise in Scottish sales in April was better than anything seen in the last year and exceeded the 6.3per cent increase in the UK as a whole which was recorded by the British Retail Consortium.
Moriarty said this showed "Scottish consumer confidence holding up slightly better than the rest of the UK".
But she noted that sales of expensive items, such as furniture, remained relatively soft because of the weak housing market and people's uncertainty about the future of their jobs.
On a like-for-like basis, stripping out the beneficial impact of expansion of retail space to give a measure of retailers' performance as opposed to overall consumer confidence, sales in Scotland last month were up 4.3per cent on April 2008. |
