UK Jan retail sales volumes rebound by 3.4%; clothing store sales drop

Sales volumes in all sub-sectors except clothing stores increased over the month.

Sales volumes fell by 0.2 per cent in the three months to January when compared with the previous three months. However, this was the smallest fall since August 2023, an ONS release noted.

Consumers spent more for less in January this year as the 3.9-per cent monthly rise in sales values (the amount spent) exceeded the 3.4-per cent rise in sales volumes.

Sales volumes rose by 0.7 per cent between January 2024 and January 2023, but were still 1.3 per cent below their pre-COVID level in February 2020.

Non-food stores sales volumes (the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores) returned to broadly expected levels, with a rise of 3 per cent over the month following a 3.9 per cent fall in December.

Forty-six per cent of surveyed adults still reported plans to spend less on Christmas shopping because of the rising cost of living, as reported in ONS public opinion and social trends bulletin.

The amount spent online fell by 4.1 per cent over the month to January 2024, but grew by 1 per cent over the year (likely because of inflation). The proportion of sales made the online figure fall from 26.8 per cent in December last year to 24.8 per cent in January 2024.

“There was promising news as sales volumes rose for the second time in three months, following 19 prior months of decline. This reflected rising levels of consumer confidence, as well as a boost from the January sales….Nonetheless, shoppers remained cautious as they entered the third year of the high cost of living,” Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, said in a statement.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)