Retail

UK retail sales drop 2.7% in May, biggest fall since Dec 2023

20 Jun '25

2 min read

UK retail sales drop 2.7% in May, biggest fall since Dec 2023

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Insights

UK retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 2.7 per cent month on month (MoM) and 1.3 per cent YoY in May this year, following a MoM rise of 1.3 per cent in April, official statistics show.
Sales volumes rose by 0.8 per cent quarter on quarter and 1.7 per cent YoY in the three months to May 2025.
The amount spent online fell by 1 per cent MoM and 2.5 per cent YoY in the month.

UK retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 2.7 per cent month on month (MoM) and 1.3 per cent year on year (YoY) in May this year, following a MoM rise of 1.3 per cent in April, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Sales volumes rose by 0.8 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) and 1.7 per cent YoY in the three months to May 2025.

Monthly sales volumes in the country had their largest fall since December 2023 in May this year, an ONS release said.

Volumes were down by 2.7 per cent compared with their pre-COVID-19 level in February 2020, reaching their lowest level since December 2024.

Non-food stores sales volumes—the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores—fell by 1.4 per cent MoM in May, mainly because of falls in clothing and household goods stores.

Online sales fell for the second consecutive month in May this year. The amount spent online, known as ‘online spending values’, fell by 1 per cent MoM and 2.5 per cent YoY in the month. Such sales values rose by 3.6 per cent QoQ in the three months to May 2025.

Total spend—the sum of in-store and online sales—fell by 2.4 per cent MoM in May. As a result, the proportion of sales made online rose from 26.8 per cent in April this year to 27.2 per cent in May.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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