Retailers’ hopes of a bumper summer are being dampened by poor weather and weak consumer confidence, Britain’s leading employers’ organisation has said.
The Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) said July sales had been far weaker than expected and detected little sign of a boost in August from the Olympics.
Of the retailers questioned in the monthly distributive trades survey, 44% said business was up on July 2011; 33% said sales volumes were down. The balance of +11 percentage points was well down on the +42 points expected when retailers were polled a month ago.
Judith McKenna, chair of the CBI distributive trades panel and Asda chief operating officer, said: “Retailers reported an annual rise in sales and orders for the third month in a row, but the increase was far slower than firms had anticipated.
via The Guardian
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