Boot sales suffer as Scotland stays sunny in October

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 16, 2016

Clothing sales were weak in Scotland last month as the weather stayed mild and suppressed demand for late autumn and winter collections. Women’s boots in particular were a casualty of the unexpectedly sunny weather.

The Scottish Retail Consortium said retail values fell 0.2% compared to October 2015 despite overall retail sales across the UK rising 2.4%. Non-food sales, which include the all-important fashion sector, fell worse than the retail sector as a whole with a 0.6% drop.

However, the fall in Scotland was the smallest drop since last December as the region has struggled with tepid demand all year.

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But it seems that as well as the weather affecting sales, discounting was also a problem. The Scottish Retail Consortium said that without price deflation estimated at 1.7%, retail sales would have risen 1.6%.

SRC director David Lonsdale said the latest figures offer both cause for optimism and cause for concern. While sales volumes have risen, this is as much a reaction to consumers expecting price rises ahead and could mean further falling sales once those rises kick in.