UK should expect 'tough times ahead'

Wednesday, March 10 2010

Consumers should be warned that tough times are to come, according to director of retail research for Mintel Richard Perks.

He claimed that Britons were cautious in the first half of last year and have become more relaxed.

But this does not mean that there will not be challenges in the year ahead.

"It's very obvious we are going to have rising taxes and interest rates and that is really going to topple consumers," he advised.

Furthermore, people will probably end this year in a worse position than they did in 2009, or at least feel like they have.

According to the British Retail Consortium-KPMG sales monitor for February to March, a 2.2 per cent rise in like-for-like retail sales occurred in the UK.

Sales had dropped in the precious monitor, which was thought to be a result of the snow and poor weather conditions in January.

Mr Perks stated that there will not necessarily be a double dip recession, but that there is a "squeeze" on incomes.