The countdown to Christmas will be a crucial period for Scotland’s hard-pressed retailers after sales only slightly increased during the past year.
Official figures from the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor showed total sales were 0.8% higher in September compared to the 12 months previous. However, consumer confidence remained ”fragile”.
Sales of household appliances and electrical goods such as tablet computers and laptops were up on a like-for-like basis over the year, and demand for gardening and DIY products was also ahead.
However, the monitor found that food, clothing and footwear sales were all down on the year as consumers continued to keep an eye on their spending.
The uptake for early Christmas lines was also slow as shoppers prioritised their purchases in favour of what they immediately required.
David McCorquodale, head of retail in Scotland, KPMG, said it had been a difficult time and the run-up to the festive season would be critical for the fortunes of Scottish high streets.
He said: ”With the last big quarterly rent cheque before Christmas having been paid and many Christmas orders placed, the retail sector now faces a critical period.
”Many promotions and sales days will occur between now and Christmas but retail chiefs will also be hoping that consumers manage to throw a little caution aside in the coming weeks and that the weather does not play as key a role as it did last year.”
Scottish Retail Consortium director Ian Shearer said it was a tough trading environment for retailers as consumers confined their purchases to the essentials.
He said: ”A slight improvement is better than no improvement but fundamentally the tough times continue for many customers and retailers.
”Total spending was just up on a year ago better than August’s fall but growth is well below inflation meaning sales volumes are down.
”With food sales growth hardly changed, the improvement was chiefly found in non-food retailing.
”Non-food sales were up on a year ago for the first time since Easter, but only just.
”Back-to-college items and other small homewares and electricals did better but the modest gains were not universal.
”Clothing and footwear sales fell because, although Scotland didn’t have a prolonged heatwave, the lack of cold weather meant people had little interest in winter ranges.
”Generally, people are still confining their spending to basic needs.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ”The Scottish Government is doing all we can within our current powers to boost economic security and consumer confidence in tough times we have implemented a ‘social wage’, and a no-compulsory redundancy policy for staff under our control.
”Measures such as the council tax freeze, free prescriptions and no tuition fees are helping promote consumption in Scotland by protecting household budgets at a time of rising inflation and fuel price,” he added.