A closely-watched barometer of consumer confidence is warning of “concern” for retailers ahead of Christmas, as official figures for September show a steep fall in sales.
GfK’s latest Consumer Confidence Index suggested that the willingness of shoppers to spend, particularly on big-ticket items, had plunged since the end of the summer.
The authors reported that households were firmly focused on the evolving cost of living crisis, with every measure declining on the previous month including that for confidence in personal finances over the next 12 months.
The findings were released as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that total retail sales volumes fell by a much worse than expected 0.9%% last month compared to August, when growth had rebounded following a wet July.
Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had forecast a 0.2% decline.
When fuel sales were stripped out, sales were 0.4% down.
ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “Retail sales fell notably in September with retailers telling us that cost of living pressures are influencing consumers, particularly for sales of non-essential goods.
“It was a poor month for clothing stores as the warm autumnal conditions reduced sales of colder weather gear.
“However, September’s unseasonable warmth did help drive up food sales a little, and fuel sales rebounded from last month’s fall.”
Outlining GfK’s findings Joe Staton, the company’s client strategy director, said: “UK consumer confidence has fallen nine points this month to -30 and takes us back to where we were in July this year.
“This sharp fall underlines that the cost…
