Retail sales growth in the UK slowed for the three months to February to 0.9 per cent from 1.1 per cent in January, as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a ‘continuing squeeze on consumer spending’.
 
Like-for-like sales rose just 0.6 per cent in February against the previous year with
Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC, commenting that as yet ‘there is no sign
of an upturn’. This rise compares to an extremely poor February in 2005 leaving ‘no cause for celebration’, according to KPMG’s Helen Dickinson.
 
Retailers still ‘face a cost base that is rising faster than the sales line’, says Dickinson, and a slow start to spring and summer products has not eased these pressures.
In another bout of bad news, The Competition Commission‘s latest measures to curb profits on store cards follow reports that consumers pay at least £55 million over the odds for interest and insurance on store cards. Although most of its measures to curb ‘excess’ profits originally emerged in September last year, they will now be enforced by order, rather than by voluntary undertaking, trimming retail revenue even further. However, some consumers who are denied credit under the new regime may seek loans elsewhere at even higher interest rates.