“Retail sales performed poorly in June as the cooler weather during the first half of the month dulled consumer spending. The sales of weather sensitive categories such as clothing and footwear, and DIY and gardening were hit particularly hard, especially compared to the surge in spending during last June’s heatwave. Electronics sales had a better month as football fans cheering on their national teams upgraded their home entertainment systems and people replaced their pandemic purchases. Retailers remain hopeful that as the summer social season gets into full swing and the weather improves, sales will follow suit.

“The retail industry is vital to the nation’s economy as an important source of employment and investment. The industry shapes local communities and provides three million jobs across the country. Through its scale and reach, retail can make a huge contribution to Labour’s policy goals, and the industry stands ready to work with the new Government to find ways to make this happen.”

“Summer may finally have arrived, but it did little to persuade consumers to hit the shops, with retail sales flatlining at 0.2% in June.

“Items for the home topped the best-selling categories, with homewares, cooking accessories and furniture all seeing positive growth in June as consumers made the most of the sunshine to enjoy time at home.  Computing sales also continued to do well, achieving double digit growth both online and on the high street. Despite the warmer weather and the football providing opportunities for people to gather at home, food and drink sales were disappointing in June, recording just 1.16% growth, and clothing and footwear also saw a disappointing performance, with negative growth both on the high street and online.

“Despite pressure on household finances easing, with petrol and energy costs and shop price inflation all continuing to fall, consumers remain incredibly reluctant to take the brakes off of their spending. The stimulus of good weather, Wimbledon and Euro 24, which was hoped would drive consumer spending, has so far failed to materialise and financial concerns remain with many households.  

“Retailers, who are running to stand still at the moment, having exhausted all of the levers they have at their disposal to cut costs and drive sales via promotions, will be looking to the new Government to boost the economy and confidence.  The overall economic conditions may slowly be improving, but the health of the sector remains fragile, and action is needed now to help support this vital economic contributor – particularly around neglected areas such as business rate reform “.

“Despite unseasonable, cool weather throughout most of June, the grocery retail market has enjoyed both value and volume growth in the last month, compared to June 2023.

“Notably, value and volume performance improved in the final week of June, coinciding with the brief but intense heatwave felt across the UK. It is also worth keeping in mind that although value and volume growth is lower compared to last month’s performance, the market is annualising against significant growth that occurred in June 2023.

“On a different note, while the election campaign has not impacted shopper confidence during June, we might expect to see a boost following the election. We have seen a positive bump for shopper confidence immediately following the three previous general elections, therefore we should expect something similar as we move through July.”