The British Retail Consortium reports London Shop Price Index (SPI) for November 2007.
Year-on-Year:
The LRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index (SPI) for November shows that prices were 3.0% higher than at the same time a year ago, a slightly lower increase than last month which saw prices rise 3.3% year-on-year, the highest inflation rate seen so far this year. The majority of inflation is continuing to come from food, while an increased level of promotional activity in non-food is helping to ease the rate of inflation.
Month-on-Month:
On a month-on-month basis, shop prices in London rose 0.2% in November, a sharp decease from October which saw prices rise by 0.8%. This slowing rate of inflation is a result of increased levels of discounting this month in non-food compared with last month.
Kevin Hawkins, Director General, LRC comments:
“As consumers become ever more price conscious, retailers have to discount in order to encourage spending. While there are still inflationary pressures from food, non-food continues to keep overall shop prices and inflation down, which is going a long way to help the Bank meet its 2% inflation target. With a severe slowdown in consumer spending likely in the New Year, the next rate move should be a cut.”
Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services, Nielsen comments:
“With the levels of non-food discounting and promotional activity accelerating from mid October, and some retailers choosing to start winter sales and Christmas promotions early, the next few weeks could be an uncertain time and weekly sales growths across the industry will be difficult to predict “.
British Retail Consortium
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