LONDON (dpa-AFX) - UK retail sales increased notably in October as customers resorted to stockpiling ahead of the nationwide lockdown, data from the British Retail Consortium showed Tuesday.
Total retail sales grew 4.9 percent on a yearly basis in October and the like-for-like sales advanced 5.2 percent.
'There was a clear uptick in sales at end of October with retailers benefiting from Halloween falling on a Saturday and shoppers reacting to the impending national lockdown with more than half of shoppers (55%) claiming to have stockpiled over the Halloween weekend,' Food & Drink sector performance, Susan Barratt, CEO, IGD said.
The closure of many out-of-home channels will almost certainly drive additional sales in retail in November, Barratt added.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive at BRC said an estimated GBP 2 billion of sales per week will be lost this month due to the lockdown. It is therefore vital that retailers are able to trade from December 3, ahead of the crucial Christmas trading period.
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