UK Retail Sales Report summary
May 2021
Period covered: Period covered: April 2021
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 trial now.
Retail sales rose by 00% in April, year-on-year, according to the Retail Economics Retail Sales Index (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. Fuel).
Last April, many parts of non-food retail suffered unprecedented declines as the Government announced the first national lockdown.
This reflects the general sentiment found in the Retail Economics Shopper Sentiment Survey which suggested that just 00% of consumers would feel “comfortable” shopping in non-food physical outlets within the first month of reopening.
Households Goods retailers performed strongly on 2019 levels, with sales rising by 00% in April 2021, compared with April 2019.
Higher rates of illness and adhering to social distancing measures in warehouses also impacted some retailers. For example, Next ceased trading online struggling to work under such conditions.
Given the depth of the decline last year, Furniture & Flooring sales rose 00% in April 2020 (+10.0% vs. 2019) from significant pent-up demand.
DIY & Gardening (+111.6%) also performed strongly, reflecting the ongoing attention consumers are placing on homes and gardens. Data from Google search suggests keywords such as ‘garden heater’ (+358%), ‘gazebo’ (+104%), ‘garden furniture’ (+77%) and many others are well ahead of last years search activity – a key indicator of intention.
Non-essential retail reopened to a jittery start across non-food retailers.
Footfall remained significantly below 2019 levels. According to Springboard; the week ending 24 April 2021 saw footfall down 32.3% against the same week in 2019.
The ONS retail sales index reported a rise in sales of 35.7% in April (value and non-seasonally adjusted – exc. Fuel). Compared with 2019 levels, sales rose by 10.4%.
Online sales rose by 31.6% (value, non-seasonally adjusted) on the previous year, accounting for 29.4% of total retail sales in April (value and non-seasonally adjusted).
Take out a free 30 day membership trial to read the full report.
Total Retail Sales - April 2021
Source: ONS
