The good news is that you can now purchase clothing items for a bit less money, according to recent figures. The bad news is that food prices, however, continue to rise.
According to recent figures, retailers have been slashing their prices to draw in customers. Retailer price inflation was at its lowest level since 2009 last month, with the rate falling to just .4%.
The British Retail Consortium reports, however, that food prices continue to rise. The rate fell to 3.5% from 2.9% the month before.
As Helen Dickinson, the BRC director general explained, “In April, overall shop price inflation was sharply down on the previous month, to its lowest for three and a half years, as a result of retailers working harder on promotions to encourage customers and the easing of some commodity costs. In particular, price competition on non-food goods intensified in the face of average incomes rising at their slowest for more than a decade and poor demand for seasonal products. Spring lines, in fashion and gardening for example, have not taken off in the way they did last year because warmer weather has been much more reluctant to take hold.”
Mike Watkins, the head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, said, “The good news for shoppers is that, aside from some seasonal price changes, there is a trend of price reduction in many food categories and price deflation in non-foods. Retailers will now be looking to keep prices competitive over the next few weeks to keep whatever momentum there is in sales growth going, and for high street retailers this could require summer discounts to start sooner rather than later.”