UK's Retail Sales Grow Slightly Faster than expected, says CBI

One word that sums up fashion of 2016 is nostalgia.  Despite rapid changes in world retail trends and technological developments, it has been a year of looking back to the past and reworking ideas taken from previous eras.

The prestigious Selfridges fashion department store on Oxford Street in London harks back to the Seventies for its shop windows this festive season.
Photos: Lucia Carpio

So much of the year-end reviews had been made in the context of a world dotted by upheavals.  No wonder people were feeling nostagic of better days of the past.  Let's hope that fashion in the coming year will begin to step away from the familiar and take us onto newer paths.

Meanwhile UK's retail sales growth accelerated in the year to December, with volumes rising at the fastest pace since September 2015, according to the CBI’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey.

The survey of 112 firms consisting of 53 retailers showed that sales volumes for the time of year were considered well above average, but growth is expected to slow somewhat in the year to January.

Separastely, orders placed on suppliers rose at the fastest pace in over a year, but are expected to be broadly stable in January.

The growth of retail sales volumes was broad-based, with sales of clothing continuing to perform strongly and grocers reporting the best results since January 2016.   Internet sales volumes continued to rise at a robust pace in the year to December, with the survey balance at its highest since November 2014.

Meanwhile, wholesaling reported the strongest volumes growth for almost a year-and-a-half in the year to December, with motor trades also seeing a healthy increase in sales volumes.

Ben Jones, CBI Principal Economist, said in late December:
“It’s encouraging to see retailers reporting another month of healthy sales growth leading up to the festive season, which rounds off a fairly solid quarter.
While we still expect to see decent growth in the near term, the pressures on retail activity are likely to increase during 2017, as the impact of sterling’s depreciation feeds through.
With higher inflation beginning to weigh on households’ purchasing power, consumption patterns are likely to shift, creating winners and losers across the retail landscape.”