The association has commented on the figures showing retail sales volumes in the UK fell by 0.9% between February and March.
The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that department and clothing stores particularly suffered during this time frame, which was the wettest March since 1836. Also suffering due to the poor weather, were sales at food shops, which fell by 0.7% following shortages of some products.
Andrew Goodacre, ceo of BIRA, commented: “These figures are very disappointing and reflect much of the feedback we have received from indie retailers throughout the UK. The weather has had a negative impact but there can be no doubting that we are seeing the impact of reduced consumer spending. Very high inflation on essential like food (19% last month) means that shoppers have less money to spend on other more discretionary items such as clothing.
“These figures also come at a time when costs for small retailers will increase significantly with increases in National Minimum Wage and especially energy costs. The government support for energy costs has effectively ended and this will result in real business pressures faced by the businesses and clearly increased sales will not compensate.
“I urge the government and the energy suppliers to rethink their approach to reducing the burden of energy on the smaller businesses. We hope sales will improve in the second half of the year, but we fear that we may lose many businesses before that materialises.”
Last week, the ONS confirmed that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation has dropped to 10.1% from 10.4% the prior month. However food prices have soared due to factors such as the war in Ukraine. There has also been a rise in transport and packaging costs.
