{"id":18240,"date":"2024-11-22T08:52:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18240"},"modified":"2024-11-22T08:52:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:52:20","slug":"shop-sales-in-surprise-fall-as-budget-fears-hit-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18240","title":{"rendered":"Shop sales in surprise fall as Budget fears hit spending"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Retail sales fell last month as shoppers held back on spending ahead of the Budget, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

Sales volumes fell by 0.7% in October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, with clothing stores having a “notably poor” month.<\/p>\n

Speculation over which taxes might be increased ahead of last month’s Budget has been blamed as a reason why households and businesses were more reluctant to make spending decisions.<\/p>\n

While the drop was bigger than expected last month, the ONS said that wider trends showed sales had been sturdy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sales volumes were up 0.8% in the August to October period when compared with the previous three months.<\/p>\n

“When we look at the wider trend, retail sales are increasing across the three-month and annual periods, although they remain below pre-pandemic levels,” said ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach.<\/p>\n

She said October’s fall “was driven by a notably poor month for clothing stores, but retailers across the board reported consumers held back on spending ahead of the Budget”.<\/p>\n

Sales at clothing stores were down 3.1% in October, with separate surveys having suggested that milder weather last month might have led shoppers to delay buying warmer clothing.<\/p>\n

The retail sales figures are the latest in a run of disappointing data on the economy.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, data showed higher-than-expected government borrowing<\/a>, while the latest inflation figures<\/a> showed prices rising faster than expected.<\/p>\n

And last week, figures indicated that the economy barely grew<\/a> between July and September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK, said the figures were “concerning” given that most retailers are now heading into their busiest time of the year with Christmas only a few weeks away.<\/p>\n

“With half-term falling later this year and relatively mild weather, consumers have put off buying their winter coats and boots,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This has made it difficult for retailers to shift stock, particularly as many have held off spending to take advantage of Black Friday deals.”<\/p>\n

However, she added that with the Budget out of the way and interest rates coming down, this should “help with confidence and create a clear runway for Christmas spending”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty Images Retail sales fell last month as shoppers held back on spending ahead of the Budget, according to official figures. Sales volumes fell by 0.7% in October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, with clothing stores having a “notably poor” month. Speculation over which taxes might be increased ahead of last month’s Budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}