UK retailers reported a further decline in sales volumes in September and reduced orders placed with suppliers at the fastest rate since the Confederation of British Industry’s survey began in 1983, according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey.
The CBI’s headline distributive trades balance, which measures reported activity compared with a year earlier, fell to -55 in September from -48 in August.
Martin Sartorius, lead economist at the CBI, said retailers reported a substantial year-on-year decline in sales volumes during the month, with some respondents attributing the deterioration to consumer sentiment.
“The persistent sales downturn appears to have prompted retailers to cut back on order volumes at a survey-record pace,” Sartorius said.
The record relates to responses in the CBI survey and does not represent a measure of the absolute value of orders across the entire UK retail sector.
Wholesalers and Motor Traders Also Report Lower Sales
The survey indicated that weaker activity extended beyond retailers, with wholesalers and motor traders also reporting declining sales.
Retailers’ expectations for sales volumes were also negative, with the relevant balance reported at -37 compared with -22 previously.
The CBI said it hoped the government’s growth agenda would include lower property taxes for high-street retailers.
The organisation’s comments represent its policy position on measures affecting the retail sector rather than a finding from the survey itself.
CBI Survey Differs From Official Retail Sales Data
The CBI’s retail indicators have recently presented a more negative picture than some other measures of the UK retail sector, including data from the British Retail Consortium and the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS’s official retail-sales figures use a different methodology and therefore are not directly equivalent to the CBI’s survey balances.
Official ONS data released in September showed continued year-on-year growth in retail sales volumes excluding automotive fuel. The CBI survey, by contrast, measures the balance between businesses reporting increases and decreases in activity.
The latest CBI survey was based on responses from 46 retail chains and 71 wholesalers collected between August 27 and September 14.
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