Slight Growth For UK Retail Sales

While it comes as no surprise that retail sales in the UK have not been booming for the past few seasons, the British Retail Consortium recently showed that sales were up by 2.2 per cent for the month of February and 5.3 per cent for yearly growth.

Clothing sales were mixed depending on sector, stores and regions. Continuing on last season's trend, childrenswear and womenswear are faring better than menswear. The luxury market has regained consumer confidence, with multibrand Gucci Group reporting profits for some of its holdings, including sales of it's own-name Florentine fashion house. The high street has seen success too, although some less expensive fashion outlets are not keeping up with consumer demand with the fashion turnaround offered by leading highstreet retailers and competitors Topshop and Hennes & Mauritz.

Footwear sales were above average, even with the bad weather affecting regional sales in the UK last month. Colour, and anything out of the ordinary is what is grabbing the consumer's attention. Trends such as court shoes and strappy sandals are what will be selling well for spring/summer.

David Southwell, director of communications, BRC said: "Retailers expect February to be one of the slowest points on the retail calendar, so no one will be surprised by the steady rather than spectacular sales seen in stores last month. Overall February has been a reasonable month for the retail sector, but there is no sign of the sluggish trend ending."