Shop prices fall in October, fashion sales ‘turning a corner’

New figures have shown a drop in shop prices for the beginning of October, with deflation sitting at 0.8 percent, down from deflation of 0.6 percent in the previous month.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which tracked its data from October 1 to 7, this latest figure also came below the three-month average rate of -0.6 percent, making shop price annual growth rate at its lowest since August 2021.

Non-food remained in deflation over the period at -2.1 percent, unchanged from the previous month and below the three-month average rate of -1.9 percent. The BRC noted that inflation was therefore at its lowest rate since March 2021 for this category.

Chief executive of the BRC, Helen Dickinson, largely accredited the deflation to discounting, and stated that fashion sales were “finally turning a corner this Autumn”.

She added that “prices edged up slightly for the first time since January as retailers started to unwind the heavy discounting seen over the past year”.

Dickinson then used her statement to reaffirm her call on the chancellor to introduce a Retail Rates Corrector, with a 20 percent downwards adjustment to the business rates bills of all retail properties.

Such a shift, she noted, would allow “retailers to continue to offer the best possible prices to customers while also opening shops, protecting jobs and unlocking investment”.