Bad weather and the coronavirus outbreak kept British shoppers away, driving a decline in retail sales during February after three consecutive months of growth. BDO’s High Street Sales Tracker reveals that like-for-like store sales contracted by 0.9% in February.

Other than high street, retail sales growth reduced to 6% in February 2020, down from 12.4% in the corresponding period a year ago. However, on the positive side, fashion sales rose 0.3% for the month.

Even though Brexit-related uncertainties have abated since 2019, the coronavirus outbreak has opened up a new risk to markets, keeping customers cautious about spending money. The situation is unlikely to improve for British retailers anytime soon as they will feel the pinch of disruptions in supply chains owing to the outbreak, even as the coronavirus spreads across more countries worldwide.