Year on year furniture sales rise for the first time in 15 months

12th May 2009 | retail | April saw furniture retailers enjoying their first month of year on year sales growth since January of last year, according to the BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor. Total like for like retail sales climbed 4.6% year on year - the fastest rate of growth in three years - and 6.3% overall with new floor space included.

The weather and the timing of Easter played crucial roles in the sales uplift, but analysts warned that the furniture and floorcoverings rises should be viewed in the context of weak comparables in April 2008.

Both the British Retail Consortium and KPMG played down the apparently strong figures and were cautious in their outlook for future trading.

Stephen Robertson, BRC director general, said, ‘Following a tough winter, there's some pent up demand but there's no reason to think customers suddenly feel flush or eager to spend. With unemployment set to grow through the rest of the year, mounting jobs worries will hold back spending for some time. It would be great if the historically weak performance of the last twelve months was behind us but we shouldn't celebrate yet.’

Helen Dickinson, KPMG head of retail, said, ‘Although, on the face it, the results for April show a healthy year-on-year uplift, it would be dangerous to see the figures as a sure sign that consumer confidence has returned just yet. The month in which Easter fell (April this year and March last year) flatters this year's figures somewhat.’

She added, ‘What they do show is that consumers are remaining resilient to the prospects presented by a gloomy economic outlook and, for the moment at least, are not making a step change in reducing their spending.’