AFP, London :
British retail sales rose in March, a survey showed Tuesday, as the early timing of the Easter holiday weekend helped shake off the impact of snowy weather.
Retail sales rose 2.3 percent last month compared with a year earlier, according to a joint survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and financial group KPMG.
Much of Britain shivered in freezing cold weather during March, in what was dubbed by media as the “Beast from the East”. That kept many shoppers away from the high street.
However, retailers were then handed a boost later in the month by the early timing of Easter. It had fallen entirely in April in 2017.
“March paints a volatile picture for sales, which experienced peaks and troughs to deliver some modest growth on last year,” said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.
“The positive distortion from the timing of Easter pushed sales up by over 15 percent during the holiday week compared with the rest of the month, only just making up for a sub-zero performance at the start of the month.”
