High street businesses are in the worse circumstances since the pandemic’s beginning because of the severe self-imposed austerity, which has driven many of them to close their doors.
Even online merchants are seeing declining revenues at the same time.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), less merchandise was purchased in June of this year compared to previous.
The amount of till sales increased by 4.4%, but this was just a result of rising prices and inflation, which is expected to reach at least 11% in the upcoming months.
According to the ONS, half of consumers now buy less food than they did previously. According to Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, “the cost of living crunch created by record inflation continues to… restrict household expenditure.” White goods and furniture sales were particularly adversely hit, she continued.
“With inflation rising faster than average earnings, there are now more people feeling the squeeze than not,” said Celine Fenech, consumer insight lead at Deloitte.
The larger trend is one of decline, according to Heather Bovill of the ONS. Retailers said consumers are reducing their spending as a result of increasing pricing as clothing and household good sales declined.
According to its data, 89 percent of people are seeing an increase in living expenses, compared to 62 percent in November of last year.
As a result, 61% of respondents reported spending less on non-essentials, and 46% reported taking fewer non-essential road trips.
With the projected energy price cap increase in the fall and the ongoing food price inflation, Lisa Hooker of PwC stated that it was difficult to see any relief from these pressures for the remainder of the year.
