A setback for retail sales in February is a “reality check” for the industry as consumers continue to show caution.
The latest survey findings from the Scottish Retail Consortium reveals a 1% year-on-year fall in total sales last month, with the like-for-like figure down by 2.5%.
Food sales suffered the biggest decline, down by 1.3% in total and by 3.4% after stripping out the impact of shops opening and closing in the past year.
Figures published earlier this week showed the number of people visiting stores in Scotland in February was 4.1% down on a year ago.
Today’s figures take the shine off the SRC’s report for January, when total sales increased by 4.3% after food and non-food purchases rose by 1% and 7% respectively.
SRC director David Lonsdale said the new findings confirmed a “challenging” February for retailers.
He added: “As in the rest of the UK, we have seen a particularly tough environment in the food market. Margins are under pressure and while the intense competition brings benefits to Scottish consumers in terms of keeping prices low, it can be a challenging environment for the businesses involved.
“It is worth remembering that these results follow a strong start to the year in January and within the overall results there are some categories that are performing strongly.
“Footwear in particular is well ahead of the UK average and online and multi-channel sales are also providing a boost for Scottish retailers.”
David McCorquodale, of survey sponsor KPMG, said: “February saw a reality check on the road to recovery as consumers shunned the economic indicators and refused to loosen the spending belts.
“Total food sales suffered their biggest drop, excluding Easter variations, since our records began in January 1999.
“The battle lines are well-defined in this sector and price cuts announced in March will filter through in future months to the benefit of the consumer, but at a cost to the retailers and their suppliers in terms of margin.”
UK retailing is growing at its slowest pace for nearly a decade, supermarket Sainsbury’s warned yesterday as it broke a nine-year run of underlying sales growth.