ONS Retail Sales October 2025

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) rose 3.2% year-on-year (YoY) in October according to the latest ONS data. It compares to a dismal 0.6% rise a year earlier.
In volume terms (non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel), retail sales increased by 1.4% YoY in October. It compares to a weak 0.4% 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 just 1.7% YoY in October, against a decline of 1.6% a year earlier. Adjusting for rising inflation, sales have been in decline for half a year, with volume declines deepening to -2.1% in October.
Non-food sales rose in October, with values and volumes rising by 3.3% and 2.8% respectively.
Clothing sales values rose by 5.6% on last year in October, while volumes rose by 4.4%, marking its softest growth since July. Volumes remain down on pre-pandemic levels. Footwear and Leather Goods volumes plunged 5.6%.
Household Goods volumes rocketed to 8.3% YoY in October. Electrical Household Appliances accelerated to 12.2%. Furniture & Lighting rose by 8.2% against weak comparatives (-7.8%).
Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Toiletries volumes dropped 7.6% in October.

Online

Online sales values rose by 4.7% YoY in October, broadly on par with the 4.6% rise a year earlier.
Clothing & Footwear edged up by 1.3% YoY, while Household Goods rose just 0.9% in October.
Non-store retailing (a proxy for pureplay retailers) stepped up 7.4% YoY in the month, against broadly flat sales a year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online rose to 28.1% in October, compared to 27.7% a year earlier.
Overall, average weekly online sales increased to £2.6bn in October.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) rose by 1.8% excluding fuel, and 1.9% including fuel.
The implied price deflator among food edged up to 3.9%. Among non-food stores, the price deflator remained soft at 0.4%.