Retail sales to suffer in 2010

Date: 6th November 2009

Retail sales are likely to fall next year due to changing consumer habits, analysis from Deloitte has revealed.

According to a new report from the research firm, 52 per cent of shoppers have overhauled their spending patterns for the long term in the wake of the credit crisis and economic downturn.

Deloitte also said that UK retail spending will rise by just 0.5 per cent in December 2009, compared with the total for the same month last year.

Moreover, an actual decline in expenditure is also predicted for next year, as the end of the VAT cut and rising unemployment weighs on household budgets.

Tarlok Teji, UK head of retail at the organisation, said: "The digital age has made information available 24/7 and now, anyone with the internet has the ability to research products, prices and opinions and with mobile technology this can be done on the go. This has created an unprecedented level of transparency."

He added: "In the immediate future people remain cautious about their spending power."

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence index for October showed that only ten per cent of Britons believed current economic conditions to be "good".

However, 68 per cent believed conditions to be "bad".

Posted by Thomas Fletcher