Britain's retailers last month saw another drop in consumer spending, according to new data, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit the spending power of consumers.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed a third successive month with a decline in activity, with June sales 1% lower than 12 months prior, following year-on-year falls of 1.1% in May and 0.3% in April.
“Sales volumes are falling to a rate not seen since the depths of the pandemic, as inflation continues to bite, and households cut back spending,” said Helen Dickinson, the BRC chief executive.
“Discretionary purchases were hit hard, especially white goods and homeware, while consumers also traded down to cheaper brands in food and non-food alike.”
The lobby group said retailers were passing costs onto consumers and called on the government to lower rates to help businesses.
Barclaycard also reported similar figures in a separate survey, with a year-on-year drop of more than 5% in household goods spending in June.
As well as that, Barclaycard said consumers were less optimistic about their ability to live within their means due to slowing growth, rising interest rates and inflation.