Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales rose by 0.3% in September, slowing compared to August (+1%). Economists had expected sales to decline by 0.3%. Computers and telecommunications retailers grew strongly but were partly offset by declines in supermarkets. For the three-month period (through September), sales volumes rose by 1.9% (the largest increase since July 2021) when compared with the three months to June 2024 and by 2.6% (the strongest growth since March 2022) when compared with the same period last year.
Meanwhile, in September, retail sales excluding fuel rose by 0.3% after an increase of 1.1% in August. Consensus estimates suggested a 0.3% drop.
The data also showed that, in annual terms, retail sales increased by 3.9% in September (the strongest growth since February 2022) after an increase of 2.3% in August (revised from +2.5%). When compared with their pre-coronavirus pandemic level in February 2020, volumes were down by 0.2%.
The ONS said that non-food stores sales volumes, the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores, rose by 2.5% in September, accelerating compared to August (+0.6%). The strongest sub-sector growth was from other non-food stores, which rose by 5.5% over the month to September 2024. Within “other non-food”, computer and telecommunications retailers had the strongest contribution to growth. However, supermarkets sales volumes fell by 2.4% in September, leading to the largest month-on-month fall for food stores this year.
The data also showed the amount spent online, known as online spending values, increased by 1.3% on a monthly basis and by 6.7% per annum. The proportion of online sales increased to 27.7% from 27.5% in August.