As well as causing chaos on the roads and forcing many schools to close, the ‘Beast from the East’ also had an impact on retail sales last month. According to a figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), many different sectors were affected by the run of bad weather the country experienced.
ONS research shows that the number of sales in March, compared to April was down 1.2% overall. Perhaps unsurprisingly petrol was hit particularly hard, with a 7.4% reduction in sales compared to the previous month. This is no doubt a reflection on the amount of cars unable to move during the snow and the fact that people across the UK were urged not to make unnecessary journeys when the roads and motorways were hazardous to travel on. Amongst others types of retailer who reported a fall were bookshops (1.8%), clothing stores (0.7%) and household goods suppliers (0.2%).
However, it wasn’t bad news for all types of shop. Local convenience stores actually recorded higher than average sales during the period. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that these smaller stores were easier for customers to access during the bad weather compared to larger supermarkets located further out of town. Online spending also increased during the snow, as people more easily ordered items from the comfort of their own home rather than going to shopping centres or department stores to make their purchases.
Joalpe have been established for more than 30 years and distribute their products to more than 30 countries worldwide. We specialize in manufacturing shop fitting equipment including shelf dividers, leaflet display systems and shopping baskets. For more information about any of our products or to place an order, please get in touch on +44 01924 468940 .
