Despite an increase in year-on-year sales in January 2022, spring will see shoppers “tighten their purse strings”, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned.
Covering the four weeks ended 29 January, January 2022 experienced an 11.9% sales increase against a decline of 1.3% in January 2021.
Over the three months to January, food sales decreased by 0.1% on a Total basis and 0.5% on a like-for-like basis – below the 12-month average of growth of 2.4%.
READ MORE: 2021 food sales up 3.1%, BRC reveals
Meanwhile, non-food retail sales increased by 11.1% on a total basis and 6.5% on a like-for-like basis.
Compared to January 2021, covid restrictions didn’t define shopper trends as people could eat out, shop offline and slowly return to pre-pandemic trends.
“It is encouraging to see such strong sales in January, even once inflation has been accounted for,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE said.
“Food sales were more muted than in previous months, as people went back to eating out more often.”
However, high spending patterns aren’t expected to continue into Spring as customers are facing National Insurance tax hikes, higher energy bills and inflation on essential goods.
Retailers will also face challenges in the upcoming months, the BRC has warned, as the “public floods back to restaurants, cafes and live events”.
Dickson added: “Rising inflation, driven by higher costs of production, higher energy and transport prices, as well as other looming price hikes this Spring will mean consumers will have to tighten their purse strings.”
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