Consumer confidence still weak, BRC claims

A business group today called for caution over hopes that consumer confidence could be on the up in the UK.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) was commenting on recent figures from their peers at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

These showed that the number of retailers reporting an increase in sales in April, rather than a fall, stood at 44 per cent against 41 per cent - or a difference of +3 per cent.

However, the BRC pointed out that, despite these results, the true level of consumer confidence remains ’weak’.

This view is supported by the CBI’s own figures for March, which showed a -44 per cent sales balance.

Moreover, the BRC recently tracked a drop in retail sales values - rather than volumes - of 1.2 per cent for April.

Richard Dodd, spokesman for the BRC, added: ’There’s no question that customers feel very worried about spending on pretty much anything other than essentials. That’s because people are still very worried, particularly about jobs because of the wider economy and its impact on them. Even if they are not currently feeling the pressure personally then of course they [expect] they are going to.’

He added: ’People are very worried about their own job prospects, about how they are going to meet their bills in the future.’ADNFCR-2318-ID-19147992-ADNFCR