Summer Sales Performance Good

The hot weather has been good for summer trading and the extra sales will help to makeup for lost ground from May's results. Some retailers seem to be out of stock, failing to take advantage of the weather's positive boost on business.

June's strong sales performance was confirmed by the British Retail Consortium's retail sales monitor, which showed like-for-like high street sales up 5.7 per cent in total, with summer clothing and footwear particularly strong. Poor results in May seem to have convinced retailer to go into sale with an aggressive pricing stance.

A Drapers Record survey carried out by retail consultancy Compability showed that there was deep discounting from the start of the sales, with New Look, Miss Selfridge and H&M showing discounts of 54, 49 and 48 per cent respectively. The survey noted that the number of retailers with high fashion in the sales was surprisingly low, with spring transitional product in strong evidence instead.