UK retailers have seen the “worst sales fall for at least 16 years” according to the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC) figures, released today (12 April).

The consortium said that UK retail sales were down 1.9% against March 2010, when sales were up 6.6%, boosted by an earlier Easter. On a like-for-like basis, sales were down 3.5% against a 4.4% increase in March 2010.

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The food sector fared better than non-food during the quarter, with food sales down 0.3% on a like-for-like basis, while non-food sales fell 1.1% over the period. On a consolidated basis, food sales were up 2.2%, while non-food sales were flat.

Commenting on the statistics, BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: “This is the worst drop in total sales since we first collected these figures in 1995. Non-food retailers were particularly hard-hit. This is strong evidence of the pressure customers and traders are under. This year’s later Easter is a factor but this fall goes way beyond anything that can be explained by that alone.”

He attributed the decline in sales to “uncomfortably high inflation” and “low wage growth” as well as mounting fuel and utility costs, falling house prices, higher VAT and the prospect of more tax rises and job losses” which have left people “unwilling to spend unless they had to”.

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Robertson was downbeat on the prospects of a turnaround, adding that “these pressures aren’t going away” and are likely to be “compounded” by the arrival of higher National Insurance in the immediate future.

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However, Arden Partners analyst Nick Bubb criticised the BRC’s claims, saying that the 3.5% like-for-like sales drop was “heavily distorted” by the much later Easter this year. “Clearly March wasn’t easy and it should be noted that the figures include VAT and higher price inflation, but April will be much better, helped by the recent fine weather,” said Bubb.