According to reports by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), sales for food have hit their lowest low since December 2008.
As the price wars continue, people are taking advantage and spending as little as possible on food, which is good news for the consumers, but also makes things a gamble for the big supermarkets, most of whom are struggling to compete for market share and have suffered profit losses.
Like-for-like sales are down by 0.3% compared to last year, according to the report. This, coupled with record low food inflation has put superstores like Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons in a precarious position, vying for market share but losing out on profits.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG who put the research together, said that “the impact of [the supermarkets’] prolonged discounting campaigns may be good news for consumers, but must be being felt deeply at by the retailers given like for like sales have fallen in value every month for the last 12 months, save for April when Easter helped sales,” as Sky News reported.
Balancing out the disappointing food sales somewhat, other retail sales have increased, especially in furniture which has seen its fastest growth since January. Fashion retailers have also reported good sales.
The price war is continuing, which is good news for customers, but at the expense of the profits of these big businesses, which are already losing out on a lot.
