Sales of non-food items grew at the slowest pace since records began as families chose days out over shopping, the British Retail Consortium has said.
The BRC, which monitors sales with the accountancy firm KPMG, said the figures would give retailers "cause for concern" in the run up to Christmas.
Clothing sales were "particularly hard hit", the BRC said.
Total retail sales, including food, rose just 0.2% last month, compared to 2.4% last year. On a like-for-like basis, which excludes new store openings, sales were down 1%.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said "consumers appear to have opted for outdoor experiences and excursions during half term, over visits to the shops".
I cannot think of many non-food items which I would not prefer to buy online. Even foods, with the growth of online supermarkets, will soon be easier and cheaper to buy off the net.
As someone who hates shopping, this really does not concern me., but what are your thoughts?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
I've been wondering about this for a while. We are by degrees losing public shopping areas as places where the community "meets itself", where we see in-person an array of our neighbors. during all of those rrgular trips to the bank, to buy clothes, to buy records and CDs, to buy camping gear. Over time we would see the same faces in different places and get to know each other. Are we going to have something to replace it? Or are we going to have fewer and fewer people we know in-person? Not just from social media.
I think it's going to be a natural evolution, with shoppers moving out of the rain and into the net, we're all lazy bastards at heart
As is inevitable with evolution, some (retailers) are going to find themselves behind the pack and starving.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
