Retail

UK retail sales volumes fall by 1.6% in Aug 2022

17 Sep '22

1 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

UK retail sales volumes fell by 1.6 per cent in August this year, continuing a downward trend since summer last year following the lifting of restrictions on hospitality, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which recently said rising prices and cost of living have also affected sales volumes in recent months. Sales volumes in clothing stores fell by 0.6 per cent month over month.

All main sectors—food stores, non-food stores, non-store retailing and fuel—fell over the month; this last happened in July 2021, when all legal restrictions on hospitality were lifted.

Non-food stores sales volumes fell by 1.9 per cent over the month because of falls in each of its sub-sectors.

Non-store retailing (predominantly online retailers) sales volumes fell by 2.6 per cent in August this year; despite this fall, sales volumes were 24.4 per cent above their February 2020 levels.

The proportion of retail sales online fell to 25.7 per cent in August 2022 from 26.3 per cent in July 2022; despite this fall, it remains significantly above pre-coronavirus levels (19.8 per cent in February 2020).

The reporting period for the ONS bulletin covered July 31 to August 27 this year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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