Posted on November - 26 - 2009
The ONS confirms increase in consumer spending
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) figures that suggested an increase in retailer customer spending in October is an accurate portrayal of consumer spending trends. Data released by the ONS showed that sales in October were up by 3.4% from a year ago.
It is also apparent that sales were up by 0.4% from September, with the increase being attributed to rising sales in clothing and footwear.
Despite this the ONS have suggested that there is evidence to show that shoppers may have brought shopping forward on the internet due to the postal strikes and the threat of further strikes over the Christmas period.
In addition to this they have also said that the increase in October can also be attributed to the number of people buying outfits for Halloween, which this year fell on a Saturday.
Online shopping has seen an increase in popularity with sales volumes up by 15.8% on October last year.
The chief European economist at Capital Economics, Jonathon Loynes stated that:
“The figures confirm that High Street spending is still holding up reasonably strongly in the face of some pretty adverse conditions for consumers.”
Despite this promising news Loynes went on to say that spending on services is likely to be down during the current economic climate and with unemployment and an increase in taxes the outlook for shoppers is still rather poor.
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