Retail: April showers wash away hope on the beleaguered high street

April was a washout for Scotland’s retailers, with high street stores today reporting their worst fall in sales for 13 years as the wet weather took its toll.

Both total sales and like-for-like sales, which strip out newly-opened or extended stores, posted their largest year-on-year declines since 1999 when the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) began compiling its monthly sales monitor.

Ian Shearer, the SRC’s director, admitted that “times are tough for Scottish customers and retailers” but pointed out the situation “may not be quite as bad as the headline figures suggest”.

While Easter fell at the very beginning of April this year, spreading some of the holiday spending across both March and April, Shearer said Easter in 2011 had fallen later in the month, boosting sales figures that had already been swollen by the royal wedding.

He said many retailers are hoping for similar “feel good factors” this summer from events such as the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the Olympic Games.

Sherar added: “Unsurprisingly, demand for summer fashion and garden goods faded as the sunshine vanished. It remains a worrying picture, confirmed by big drops in footfall and continuing retail administrations.”

The SRC figures show total sales fell by 4.1 per cent in April, while like-for-like sales dropped by 5.2 per cent.

David McCorquodale, head of retail in Scotland for accountancy firm KPMG, which helped compile the statistics, pointed to “structural changes” within the retail sector, with more customers buying products online. The trend for shopping on the internet is regularly highlighted during the weekly sales figures published by department store chain John Lewis.

McCorquodale added: “While May ought to be brighter than April, the general health of the retail sector continues to falter and consumers don’t feel confident enough in their own future incomes to give it the boost that it craves.”

Euan Murray, Scottish relationship director at banking giant Barclays, said their was also an increasing trend for customers to spend what little money they have on “quality” items.

Murray added: “Savvy consumers are more value conscious than ever, becoming adept at making their money go further.

“Retailers should be wary of assuming that simply offering low cost goods is the answer, however. Consumers are seeking quality – streamlining spending to focus on buying less and buying ‘better’.”

Ken Macintosh, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesman, claimed: “Consumers simply do not have any confidence that either the Scottish or UK government is doing enough to promote growth – all the while we see an ever increasing number of stores closing and empty shops on our high streets.

“The SNP’s proposed hikes in business rates are likely to make a bad situation worse for many shopkeepers and high streets.”