;
COVID-19 SERVICE: We are heightening our efforts to assist the UK retail & leisure industry through this challenging period. Explore this service now… COVID-19 SERVICE

UK Retail Sales Report | Insight & Analysis

December 2023

What's included in this report?

  • Overview of UK retail sales
  • Retail sales growth by category Y-o-Y
  • Online sales growth (Y-o-Y)
  • Retail sales by region (£m)
  • Total spend by sector
  • Weekly spend (£m)
  • Footfall stats by channel
  • External data source summaries
  • Regional weather data

UK Retail Sales Report : December 2023

Access report with a free trial subscription

No payment required. Free for 30 days. Cancel anytime

Report Summary

Period covered: 27 August - 30 September 2023

3 minute read

 

Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Become a member to access this data or take out a free 30 day membership trial now.

 

Retail sales

Retail sales growth softened to just xx% YoY growth in September according to the Retail Economics Retail Sales Index, against a xx% rise in the previous year as non-food sales came under pressure.

 

Key factors impacting sales in the month include:

Ongoing cost of living pressures: Inflation remained unchanged and above-target at 6.7% in September, driven by essential fuel prices and double-digit food inflation. Additionally, mortgage rates and rents are under pressure from the base rate being held at 5.25% on 21 September. This is leading to a readjustment of household budgets for retail spending.

Fragile confidence: Confidence slipped back as the month went on into October, which saw willingness to make major purchases plummeted 14 points to -34 between September and October (GfK).

Joint-warmest September on record: The roll out of new season autumn/winter lines came up against record temperatures in September (Met Office), delaying sales of jumpers, blankets and duvets.

Back-to-school rush: Sales of school essentials such as uniforms, formal shoes and backpacks came later than normal as households delayed spending.

Exceptional comparative: The death of the Queen last year led to an additional public holiday and shop closures.

 

 

Evolving Cost of Living pressures

The harsh macroeconomic backdrop continues to hamper confidence.

Confidence hit an all-time low in September last year, coinciding with political turmoil including Liz Truss and Kwai Kwarteng controversial mini-budget. While pessimism has eased since then, GfK’s index measure slipped from -21 in early September to -30 by early October.

This reflects evolving pressures on personal finances despite resilient earnings growth.

The latest earnings growth shows annual regular pay rises were 7.8% between June to August 2023 (Office for National Statistics data) – broadly in line with record highs. However, the distribution of pay rises is uneven across households.

Some industries seeing the highest pay increases are benefiting the most affluent individuals, such as those working in professional services (earnings up 7.9% YoY), real estate (8.1%) and ICT (10.0%), which have typically high starting salaries to begin with.

By comparison, industries such as arts and entertainment (+3.0%), food manufacturing (+4.3%) and quarrying (+5.4%) are facing softer earnings rises.

 

 

Take out a FREE 30 day membership trial to read the full report.

 

 

Retail sales values and volumes continue to diverge

Source: ONS, Retail Economics analysis

Latest monthly UK Retail Sales Report

Report: September 2023 3 minute read   Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Become a me... read more
Report: August 2023 3 minute read   Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Become a me... read more
Report: July 2023 3 minute read   Note: This report summary is one or two months behind the current month as standard reporting practice. The content is indicative only and incomplete with certain data undisclosed. Become a me... read more
View Archive

Need more insight on UK retail?

Try a FREE 30 day trial subscription

How it works
  • Free for 30 days, no payment details, cancel anytime
  • Create account and log into your retail insight dashboard
  • Download free retail economic and sector reports
  • Download thought leadership reports and presentations
  • Access time series data and much more…
Get insight with a FREE trial subscription

Trusted by

    Sainsburys Argos O2 Barclays Warner Bros Akznobel Sky British Land

Report Contents

UK Retail Sales Report Report
  • Executive Summary
  • Retail Sales Comparison
  • UK Overview
  • UK Retail Sales Report
  • Retail Economics Sales Index
  • ONS Retail Sales Index
  • BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor
  • CBI Distributive Trades Survey
  • John Lewis Weekly Sales Figures
  • BDO High Street Sales Tracker
  • Visa Consumer Spending Index
  • UK Retail Sales by Sector
  • Food and Grocery
  • Clothing & Footwear
  • Homewares
  • Furniture & Flooring
  • DIY & Gardening
  • Electricals
  • Health & Beauty
  • Online Retail Sale
  • UK Forecasts
  • Met Office Weather Analysis

3 reasons to use us


You get an unbiased, trusted and inclusive analysis

Get an instant grasp of UK retail sales statistics with clear, analytical narrative because we’re truly independent


You get easy-to-read retail sales overviews

Concise narrative - Punchy exec summaries - Accelerated data intake. We give you all the need-to-know trends for better strategic thinking.


We focus on actionable insight in our reports

Our extensive use of official data sources and ability to cut through complex issues will help you make better decisions - leaving you with real, actionable insight.

About our reports and subscriptions

Retail Economics publishes monthly UK Online Retail Sales reports providing intelligent analysis covering a range of retail sales indices giving you cutting edge insights that you can action within your business.

 

Improve your performance with in-depth analysis of the latest macroeconomic and consumer trends affecting the UK retail industry. As a subscriber you can access various retail reports, interactive data and critical retail sector analysis for: food & grocery, clothing & footwear, homewares, furniture & flooring, DIY & gardening, electricals, health & beauty, online retail sales and more.

 
Watch a short video outlining the insights you can get from this report (1:20min) - 

Other popular retail reports

Top