Wave bye bye to the Barbie factor – the reality is spending is down.

Forget about Barbie and Oppenheimer – the films may have doubled cinema takings, but in this wet summer UK spending is on the way down.

Cinemas double box office takings.

Cinema takings were up by 101% – helped by the two summer blockbusters – but overall consumer spending slowed, more signs of a weakening economy.

Annual growth in consumer spending on credit and debit cards slowed to 2.8% in August from 4.0% in July, according to figures from Barclays. The bank blames much of this on July’s downpour. 

Petrol fell 20%.

Part of the slowdown also reflected falling inflation. Petrol fell 20%, year-on-year. Spending on essentials, like food and fuel, grew just 1.0%; the least since April 2020.

With consumer price inflation still running at 6.8% in July – the highest of any major economy – the data suggests overall household consumption continues to fall in real terms.

Rain dampened summer shopping 

Barclays claimed rain drove shoppers away in July. Figures from the British Retail Consortium showed many shoppers had returned to stores, after the washout. 

Total sales at BRC members grew by 4.1% in cash terms in the year to August – in line with the average annual growth rate over the past 12 months – after dropping to 1.5% in July.

Beauty products doing well. 

Like-for-like sales growth, a measure which adjusts for changes in store space, rose to 4.3% in August from 1.8%.

Beauty products had performed strongly, but the BRC said parents appeared to be holding off on purchases of children’s uniforms and shoes until just before the new school year began.

Like the Barclays figures, the BRC data is not adjusted for inflation – so falling inflation could lead to lower top-line sales growth, the trade body said.