Retail sales slide in record decline

Retailers experienced the worst fall in sales on record last month as shops were forced to shut up and down the country. 

Total sales fell by 4.3pc in March, compared with 1.8pc decline for the same month last year, figures from the British Retail Council (BRC) and KPMG showed. It was the sharpest decline in the 25 years that the numbers have been collated. 

Sales before and after shoppers were asked to stay at home were in stark contrast. In the first three weeks, they rose by 12pc, then plunged by 27pc in the last two weeks.

This is mostly because all non-essential retailers had to close their stores as the outbreak took hold. 

Spending also fell by 6pc year-on-year, separate data from Barclaycard showed. 

People parting with cash for non-essential products decreased 12.9pc, with many retailers hurt by mass store closures and social distancing measures. 

This lays bare the challenges that sellers of clothes, toys, shoes, homeware and other goods face. 

Ailing Laura Ashley and Debenhams were forced to call in administrators due to lack of funds and to protect against claims from creditors respectively. 

Meanwhile, Oasis and Warehouse appointed Deloitte to handle its administration, with 200 immediate job losses.  

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The crisis continues. The retail industry is at the epicentre and the tremors will be felt for a long while yet. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk within these [non-food] companies and their supply chains. At the same time, supermarkets brace themselves for lower sales.”