Food sales in deep decline as sports triumphs and heatwave of 2013 can’t be matched
DO you remember how exciting it was when Andy Murray served for the championship at Wimbledon in 2013? Well, when the lad from Dunblane finally took the hallowed trophy it wasn’t just good for Scottish tennis – it was brilliant for Scottish food and drinks sales too.
But Andy and Scottish shops found it a difficult act to follow.
Total food sales in Scotland in July were down 2.8% on the same month in 2013, according to the latest Scottish Retail Consortium-KPMG Scottish Retail Monitor figures.
Like-for-like food sales, which strip out the sales from stores which opened or closed down over the year, slumped by 4.6%. In other words in a typical shop for every £100 spent on food in July 2013 only £95.40 went through the till in July 2014.
Analysts reckon Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory and great weather boosted the 2013 performance but the underlying food performance in recent months isn’t strong.
The July total food sales slide was the deepest decline since March. Over the last three months, total food sales declined by 2.0%, compared to 0.1% growth over the last 12 months.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: “The food and drink sector continues to be the drag on the statistics with competitive pricing amongst the grocers driving negative like for likes for the 12th month in a row.
“The decline in Scottish food sales is similar to that felt in the rest of the UK.”
