CITY AM – Bring me sunshine 

Bring me sunshine! Retailers hit by grim April weather as economy held back by the rain

CITY AM SAYS Retailers continued to be bruised by soaring inflation and poor weather conditions in April, as the sector holds out hope for summer to give a much needed boost in sales.

Data by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed that while retail sales rose slightly over five per cent during the month, overall inflation meant that volumes were down for both food and non-food as “customers continued to adjust spending habits”. 

With rainfall and cool weather conditions present for most of the month, shoppers also held off splurging on a new summer wardrobe, as like-for-like retail sales increased by 5.2 per cent in April, against a decline of 1.7 per cent  in April 2022. 

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