The recession is going to get substantially worse before it gets better, Scottish retailers have been told, according to today’s Independent Retail News.
Delegates at this year’s Scottish Grocers’ Federation annual conference, held in Dunblane last weekend, were warned of dire times ahead by two key speakers.
Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies at Stirling University, and Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, both revealed worrying trade scenarios.
Set against a backdrop of government spending cuts, 2.5 million unemployed, rising oil and manufacturing costs and an interest rate that can only go up, they said the worst of recessionary trading was yet to come.
“Scottish retailers are having a tougher time than the rest of the UK and it’s going to get substantially worse before it gets better. The recession hasn’t even begun in Scotland,” Sparks said.
Robertson added:“There is very little volume growth in food sales in Scotland. This year is going to be tough for consumers and there will not be much happiness between now and the year end. We know the cupboard is empty, there’s no money to be handed over. When people talk of seeing green shoots in the economy, be very nervous.”
The speakers urged independent retailers to keep investing in their businesses and instil consumer confidence in the sector. They also called for strong leadership from the government, in Holyrood and Westminster, to help the industry trade out of the recession.
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