The latest sales figures from Scotland’s shops show a third consecutive month of growth in February — but only just. The Retail Sales Monitor, from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and its advisers KPMG, showed that total sales were up 0.7% this time last year. However, like-for-like sales fell by 0.1% and, taking inflation into account, sales were down 0.3% in real terms. Nonetheless, SRC believed the results gave grounds for “cautious optimism”.
David Martin, the SRC’s Head of Policy, described it as “an encouraging result with February being the third consecutive month of Scottish sales growth and the best three-month average in nearly two years. 
However, total sales didn’t measure up well against those in January and in real terms were down 0.3%. This reminds us that the economy and trading environment remains fragile. Non-food sales continued to rebound in February, showing the strongest performance since March 2012 if pre-Christmas trading is excluded. Electricals drove much of this growth but furniture and flooring also did well.”
The authors of the report suggest that a broader upturn was now possible. In the view of David McCorquodale (right), Head of Retail at KPMG, “February’s performance delivered a third consecutive month of growth for the Scottish retail sector, which will give retailers reasons to feel fairly upbeat as we head into spring. Retailers will now be hoping for an even stronger March, buoyed by Mother’s Day and Easter falling in the same month. The hope is that next week’s budget will deliver a fillip to stimulate consumer spending in the long-term, and provide a much needed boost to the sector.”
However, the performance of Scottish retailers continues to lag behind the rest of the UK. As David Martin explained, “The gap between Scottish sales growth and that for the UK as a whole widened again in February returning to what has been the norm for around two years. All in all, however, this is a satisfactory showing and should be welcomed with cautious optimism.”