ONS Retail Sales March 2026

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) growth increased to 6.1% year-on-year (YoY) in March according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a soft 1.9% uplift a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales increased 3.6% YoY in March. 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 jumped by 6.3% YoY in March, against a 0.2% decline a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, food sales were rose by 2.5%.
Non-food sales values increased by 4.1% in March, while volumes by 3.2% against selective demand.
Clothing sales values rose by 5.5% YoY, while volumes rose by 4.9%. Footwear and Leather Goods volumes dipped 0.3%.
Household Goods volume rose 2.4% YoY in March. Electrical Household Appliances jumped 7.4%, while Furniture & Lighting rose by just 1.5%.
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes surged 10.4% in March.

Online

Online sales values remained in double digit growth at 11.4% YoY in March, against a 5.1% rise in the previous year.
Clothing & Footwear rose 4.1% YoY and Household Goods increased 7.4% in March.
Non-store retailing (a proxy for pureplay retailers) jumped 14.0% YoY in the month, against a 1.8% uplift year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online rose to 27.9% in March, compared to 26.6% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales increased to £2.6bn in March.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 2.4% excluding fuel, and 2.7% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food rose by its highest rate this year at 3.7%. Among non-food stores, the price deflator edged up 0.9%, with Household Goods remaining in deflation at 0.1%.