ONS Retail Sales January 2026

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) growth accelerated to 7.2% year-on-year (YoY) in January according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a 0.9% uplift a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales were broadly flat at 6.2% YoY in January. It compares to a 0.7% decline a year ago and marks the first volume growth in January since 2022.
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 4.9% YoY in January, against a 2.9% rise a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, food sales were rose 2.1%.
Non-food sales values increased by 5.6% in January, while volumes accelerated to 6.0%.
Clothing sales values stepped up by 7.1% YoY, while volumes rose by 6.4%. Despite recent growth, volumes remain below 2019 levels. Footwear and Leather Goods volumes stepped up 6.8%.
Household Goods volume growth accelerated to 7.9% YoY in January. Electrical Household Appliances rose by 6.3%, while Furniture & Lighting increased by 7.8% against a marginal decline last year (-0.2%).
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes returned to growth at 4.9% in January.

Online

Online sales values jumped by 15.3% YoY in January, against a 0.8% decline in the previous year.
Clothing & Footwear surged 11.1% YoY and Household Goods increased 7.6% in January.
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 28.9% in January, compared to 26.8% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales increased to £2.5bn in January.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 0.9% excluding fuel, and 0.8% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food softened to 2.8%. Among non-food stores, the price deflator slipped into deflation at -0.3%, dragged by Household Goods.