According to official figures released today by the British Retail Consortium – BRC – and KPMG, furniture was one of the strongest selling categories last month, which showed a 3.2% rise in like-for-like retail sales.
The home categories performed well in March, according to the BRC/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, with furniture emerging as the strongest contributor to growth after food. The home accessories category performed 'very strongly', while house textiles had a 'strong rebound last month' compared with a 'weak' performance last year, it said.
The monitor also revealed that consumers 'generally preferred venturing outside to the shops rather than buying online', resulting in 'the contribution of stores to three-month non-food growth exceeding that of online for the first time since August 2014'. However, online sales grew steadily, with a 12.3% rise in March.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: “An increase in consumers venturing out to shop can be expected at this time of year and although this period is often difficult to measure due to Easter distortions, we saw a marked increase in sales across home categories, including furniture and household appliances, even though fashion sales were a bit subdued.
“All-in-all, retailers can also be satisfied with the consumer response to their Mother’s Day and Easter offerings, but it is important to note that April figures will be impacted by the absence of Easter this year.”