Consumer confidence improves as retail sales rise
UK consumer confidence has risen in May to largely reverse April’s decline.
GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index has increased by three points to -20 compared to a drop of four points last month.
Subscribe to TRBWhile the measure for the forecast for personal finances over the next 12 months has risen by five points to +2, the measure for expectations for the general economic situation over the same period has increased by four points to -33.
Meanwhile, the major purchase index for big ticket items such as furniture and electrical goods is up three points at -16; this is a ten point improvement on the same time last year.
Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, an NIQ Company, said: “The overall index score increased by three points to -20 in May. Have consumers taken comfort from the Bank of England’s May 8th quarter-point base-rate cut?
“And have they breathed a tiny sigh of relief since April when the sudden turbulence of the Trump Tariffs was prompting dire warnings of economic damage and a return to inflation?
“Those dangers – especially the issue of inflation – have not disappeared but the consumer mood in the UK does appear to have improved a little.”
In further news, figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that retail sales volumes increased by 1.2% month-on-month in April.
Sales volumes rose across most sectors, with volumes only falling in clothing and other non-food stores where there was a drop of 0.7%.
Food sales volumes were up 3.9% which the ONS said some retailers attributed to the month’s good weather.
