ONS Retail Sales May 2026

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) grew by 6.7% year-on-year (YoY) in May according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a flat 0.1% uplift a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales declined by 4.5% YoY in May. It compares to a weak comparative of -1.4% 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.

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 3.8% YoY in May, against a 2.1% uplift a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, food sales edged up by just 1.1%.
Non-food sales value growth accelerated to 7.2% in May, while volumes rose 5.9% supported by outdoor ranges and electricals.
Clothing sales values surged 8.8% YoY. Clothing volumes rose by 7.7%, while Footwear and Leather dropped 7.0%.
Household Goods volumes jumped 8.3% YoY in May, driven by double-digit growth across Electrical Household Appliances (11.5%).
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes surged 12.3% in May.

Online

Online sales values accelerated by 12.3% YoY in May, against a 1.8% decline in the previous year.
Clothing & Footwear rose by 12.2% YoY and Household Goods increased 12.6% in May.
Non-store retailing (a proxy for pureplay retailers) jumped 15.5% YoY in the month, against a 2.9% decline a year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online rose to 27.6% in May, compared to 26.1% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales increased to £2.7bn in May.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 2.1% excluding fuel, and 3.9% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food rose by 2.6%. Among non-food stores, the price deflator softened to 1.2% in May.