Retail sales grew last month, but not by enough to beat inflation.
July’s 2.3% monthly rise reported by the British Retail Consortium was also 10.6% above July 2019. However, taking inflation into account suggests that sales volumes have in fact fallen.
Spending on credit and debit cards is also up, but even that isn’t good news for retailers.
While shoppers spent 8% more in July than they did a month earlier, the bulk of that went on energy bills, fuel and electric fans.
The hospitality sector may have reported a 9% increase in year-on-year spending, but it also witnessed a 1.5% monthly decline.
According to figures from Barclaycard, spending on utilities rose by 44% compared with July 2021, while spending on fuel rose by 30%.
