CBI survey reveals optimism among retailers

A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today revealed shoppers hit the High Street in July, with sales increasing at the fastest pace in more than three years.

According to the CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey, supermarkets, clothes and shoe shops received the most business as sales grew at the fastest rate since April 2007, boosted by the World Cup, warm weather and discounting.

The survey also found that sales are expected to continue growing next month and said just over half of retailers said sales were higher than this time last year, while 18% reported a fall.

As a result, the positive balance rose to 33% against an expectation of 11%.

In addition, next month 45% of retailers are anticipating stronger sales.

CBI’s head of economic analysis, Lai Wah Co, said: “Retailers are optimistic that strong sales growth will continue next month, which is promising.

“We still expect the recovery in overall consumer spending to be fairly restrained, however, given concerns about the impact of public spending cuts and weak prospects for real take-home pay in the coming year,” added Ms Co.

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