Three-year low for March sales in UK

Consumers are increasingly reluctant to buy products such as furniture because confidence has fallen to a new low.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) monthly sales monitor, UK sales fell 1.6% compared with March 2007, when sales rose by 3.9%.

The decline was the worst since July 2005.

BRC said the earlier Easter, unseasonal weather and school holidays made comparisons difficult.

The monitor said: 'Homewares and furniture fell further, despite continued discounting and promotions. Consumer confidence has fallen further to new lows. With increasing demands on household budgets, shoppers are very price-conscious and reluctant to spend on big-ticket items. Heavy discounting was still needed to tempt customers to buy.'

Stephen Robertson, BRC director general said: 'Here is the strongest evidence yet that customers are making serious economies and are increasingly concerned about the future.'

Retail in London was also hit last month. Although sales in March were 2% higher than a year earlier, on a like-for-like basis, growth was slower. March 2007's sales were up 10.8% on March 2006.

Homewares, especially larger purchases, 'continued to struggle as consumers faced shrinking disposable incomes.'

Helen Dickinson, KPMG head of retail said: 'London retailers continue to hope that shoppers in the capital will be more resilient to the spending slowdown. The threat of large numbers of City job losses does not bode well.'


B&Q tops the charts

B&Q was the most searched brand online in the Hitwise UK Annual Online Performance Awards for the the house and garden sector.

The DIY firm's website (www.diy.com) had the largest market share of visits in 2007. In second place was screwfix.com followed by Ikea.com.

Amazon.co.uk topped the department store charts, with argos.co.uk and tesco.com taking second and third places.

Hitwise, reports on anonymous online usage and search behaviour of more than 8.43m UK Internet users. Daniel King, Hitwise UK general manager said: 'This is truly a people's choice award, as UK Internet users have determined Hitwise UK's annual top websites and online brands.'