ONS Retail Sales February 2026

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) growth softened to 4.7% year-on-year (YoY) in February according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a 2.2% uplift a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales increased 3.3% YoY in February. It compares to a 0.9% 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 rose by 3.2% YoY in February, against a 1.9% rise a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, food sales were rose by just 0.6%.
Non-food sales values increased by 4.2% in February, while volumes rose by its strongest February rate in four years at 3.7% against a fragmented backdrop.
Clothing sales values rose by 5.8% YoY, while volumes rose by 4.4%. Footwear and Leather Goods volumes plunged 8.8% amid wet weather.
Household Goods volume slipped into decline at 0.4% YoY in February. Electrical Household Appliances edged up 2.1%, while Furniture & Lighting rose by just 0.7%.
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes surged 11.5% in February.

Online

Online sales values remained in double digit growth at 11.0% YoY in February, against a 2.0% rise in the previous year.
Clothing & Footwear rose 4.4% YoY and Household Goods increased 5.0% in February.
Non-store retailing (a proxy for pureplay retailers) rocketed 24.0% YoY in the month, against a 5.6% decline year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online rose to 27.5% in February, compared to 25.9% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales increased to £2.44bn in February.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 1.3% excluding fuel, and 0.9% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food eased to 2.6%. Among non-food stores, the price deflator edged up 0.5%, with Household Goods remaining in deflation.