Although the BRC was able to report “modest” retail sales growth in July, there was little for store chiefs’ comfort in the latest data.

Although the BRC was able to report “modest” retail sales growth in July, there was little for store chiefs’ comfort in the latest data.

The extent to which consumers are keeping a tight watch on their purses was starkly illustrated by one fact: 51% of shoppers say they are checking the price of every single food item they put into their trolleys.

It highlights the extent to which price inflation, not just of food but of other essentials such as energy, is dictating shopper behaviour. Although food sales picked up a little last month, grocers remain heavily dependent on promotions.

The same is true of other sectors of the industry. Clothing and shoe retailers also had a better month in July. You don’t need to look very far on any high street to see the extent to which they too have been running promotions and Sales, and in come cases you wonder about what the eventual hit to margins will be.

While any sales improvement in the current climate is welcome news for retailers, one of the underlying factors affecting spending apart from the reality of squeezed income, is consumer confidence.

Confidence has been volatile for a long time now, and the lawlessness of the last week will only exert increased downward pressure.

The BRC warned on Tuesday that policy makers must act quickly “before spending paralysis sets in”.

The hope must be that any effect from the riots on confidence is temporary and that there is no return to serious nesting by an unsettled public.

Investors in retail businesses face tough decisions about where they might find value. But there will always be opportunities – out-of-favour Home Retail is now on the buy list of one big broker for the first time since 2006 and other well-known names are tipped to deliver plenty of upside in the longer terms.

The gloom seems unrelenting, but at least some of the lights in the tunnel are not from oncoming trains.