A few warm, sunny days last month helped
Like-for-like sales rose 1.9% in May, compared with 1.8% for the same month in 2007.
Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, which compiles the figures with accountancy firm KPMG, said: “After several mostly miserable months, warm sunny weather finally arrived in early May and helped lift customers’ gloom.”
He added: “We are not out of the woods yet. The economic fundamentals remain weak. BRC/Nielsen consumer confidence figures show the economy is the major concern for a third of people.
“The housing slowdown and tighter household budgets meant that, despite heavy discounting, furniture sales were well down on a year ago and there was a continued slowdown for electrical goods.”
Head of retail at KPMG Helen Dickinson said: “May’s figures represent a significant improvement on the previous couple of months and were achieved through a much more consistent performance across the different sectors, the exception being anything home-related, particularly big-ticket electricals, which continue to struggle.”
