David Bush, head of analyst Grant Thornton's retail services team said this morning that the UK high street is still experiencing stronger than expected growth, despite fears of a slowdown in consumer spending.
"The volume of retail sales grew by 4.1 per cent for the three months to January,” he said, “in comparison to the same period last year, indicating that the high street is still experiencing much stronger than expected growth, despite fears of a slowdown in consumer spending."
"Indeed, today's results were far better than anticipated by most within the industry. However, much of the growth has been driven by discounting in the early part of January and a significant increase in mail order and Internet sales," he continues.
"January's cut in interest rates will have come too late to have had a significant impact on today's figures. However, it could well drive February's sales up, causing additional concern for the Bank of England when they next meet to discuss interest rates as inflationary pressure continues to grow."
"While those retailers selling higher ticket products (ie high fashion, white goods and furniture sales) appear to be suffering from the effects of the credit crunch with consumers reining in their spending, those high street retailers with lower average transaction values are therefore still experiencing strong sales growth," Bush said.
