Retail - an interesting postscript
If you saw my post yesterday about retail property vacancy rates, yesterday's CBI report may have you scratching your heads. The difference is between long term trends in property occupation and shorter term views on growth, based on lower annualized figures. The CBI is looking forward to increased figures once again as we head towards Christmas. It is the new year when we will have to take stock...
Rain Newton-Smith, CBI Director of Economics said:
“Growth in sales and orders for high street retailers remains resilient, but there has been a slight slowdown in the pace of that growth following a strong September.
“Internet sales are starting to ramp up again as we head towards Christmas and we would expect them to continue this positive pattern until the end of the year.
“Low inflation and improving wages mean the prospects for sales growth are decent, but challenges remain, like the weakening global economy and competitive pressures in the retail sector, so we can’t take this positive outlook for granted.””
