The London Olympic Games failed to
boost spending in Britain as official statistics shows that retail
sales in August has dropped.
Retail sales dropped 0.2 percent in August in comparison with a
0.3 percent rise in the previous month, said the Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
According to the ONS, the weak sales were blamed for the Olympic
Games as more consumers went to watch sports instead of shopping.
However, compared with the same period of last year, retail sales
increased by 2.7 percent.
The proportion of internet sales in the total sales fell by 0.9
percent in August compared with July, with the estimate average
weekly spend online amounting to 466.1 million pounds.
Internet sales in August was estimated to account for 8.1 percent
of all retail spending excluding automotive fuel, said the ONS.
The official figures on retail sales is similar to any early
survey report released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). It
said retail sales values in Britain dropped 0.4 percent in August
from the same period of last year.
