Deloitte comments on ONS retail sales figures

Commenting on today’s ONS retail sales figures, Ian Geddes, UK head of retail at Deloitte, said:

“These results are significantly stronger than many expected and point to the strength of underlying demand in the UK consumer market. Store prices remain under intense pressure, particularly in grocery, due to competition and deflation. This is impacting sales value growth, but is encouraging consumers to buy more. While deflation is not expected to last for long, we feel that price competition in grocery will only intensify during 2015. Online sales bounced back in April after a slowdown in growth in recent months. Online fashion proved particularly strong benefiting from a warmer than average April that prompted consumers to splash out on summer clothing.”

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Notes to editors

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.

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