ONS Retail Sales August 2025

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) rose 2.5% year-on-year (YoY) in August according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a soft 1.5% rise a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales increased by a weak 0.5% YoY in August. It compares to a 1.2% rise a year ago.
It should be noted that ONS figures are based on a sample of some 5,000 retailers and are subject to revisions. The non-seasonally adjusted figures reported in this quick release have not been impacted by the ONS’s “quality assurance” revisions made in today’s release.

Retail sales value and volume growth – percentage change on a year earlier

Source: ONS, Retail Economics analysis

Note: all retail sales figures provided below are non-seasonally adjusted, excluding Fuel, unless stated otherwise.

Food and non-food

Food sales values slipped by 0.3% YoY in August. This compares to a 1.9% rise a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, volumes declined by 4.2% against a 0.6% rise a year earlier.
Non-food sales edged up in August, with values and volumes rising by 4.1% and 3.4% respectively.
Clothing sales values rocketed by 8.1% on last year in August, while volumes rose a substantial 7.1% supported by the weather. Meanwhile, Footwear and Leather Goods volumes rose by 3.0%.
Household Goods volumes stepped up by 5.5% YoY, driven by a 14.0% surge in Electrical Household Appliances – marking a fifth consecutive month of double-digit rises.
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes plunged 2.4% in August, having been in consistent decline since the start of this year.

Online

Online sales values rose by 4.7% YoY in August, against a 1.8% rise a year earlier.
Clothing & Footwear surged 7.6% YoY, while Household Goods edged up 1.2% in August.
Non-store retailing (a proxy for pureplay retailers) accelerated to 4.2% YoY growth in the month, against broadly flat growth a year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online was 26.1% in August, compared to 25.5% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales edged up to £2.3bn in August.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 2.0% excluding fuel, and 1.5% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food rose by 4.1% – its highest level since March last year. Among non-food stores, the price deflator remained soft at 0.7%.