New figures paint a poor picture for retailers with non-food sales slumping through February.
New figures paint a poor picture for retailers with non-food sales slumping through February.

However, weak sales at the start of February may of put off customers and may not be a sign of consumers too scared to spend.

The figures released by Synovate Retail Traffic Index yesterday (4 March) show no signs of even the first green shoots for retail recovery yet they do manage to stay out of the minus 4% year-on-year 'drop-zone'.

The number of shopping trips made to non-food stores in February was down by 3.4% against the same month a year ago and down by 6.7% on January.

This compares with a year on year drop of 3.7% in January against that same month a year ago.

Synovate retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison said: "Much as we would all like to be seeing at least some sign of germination if not actual green shoots of recovery, these figures show that non-food shopping is still down the order on people's lifestyle and living agenda.

"There is a sniff of some good news here, however. The first two weeks of February had some very severe weather which curbed many shopping trips, restricting them to essential or local outings only. Given that, we should be somewhat heartened by the figures, which are marginally better than in January, when numbers were down by 3.7% year-on-year."