Retail sales volumes drop across most sectors in UK in Apr 2024

Over the year to April, volumes fell by 2.7 per cent, and were 3.8 per cent below their pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in February 2020.

Sales volumes fell across most sectors, with clothing retailers, sports equipment and furniture stores doing badly as poor weather reduced footfall.

Retail sales volumes rose by 0.7 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) in the three months to April following a poor December 2023, and fell by 0.8 per cent year on year (YoY) during that quarter.

Non-food stores sales volumes (the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores) fell by 4.1 per cent in April this year, an ONS release said. This was the joint largest fall (shared with December 2023) since January 2021.

The amount spent online fell by 1.2 per cent during April this year and by 1.5 per cent over the year.

As total spend showed a greater fall during the month (2.6 per cent), the proportion of sales made online increased from 26.2 per cent in March 2024 (revised from 25.9 per cent) to 26.5 per cent in April 2024.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)