Retail sales in the UK remained stable in February after a notable rebound in January. This was attributed to the dip in customer footfall stemming from poor weather conditions, as revealed by data released by the Office for National Statistics on Friday.
The data indicated no change in retail sales from January, which had previously seen a revised growth of 3.6%. A decrease of 0.4% was initially projected for February. The ONS found that although new collections boosted sales volumes in clothing and department stores, declines in food store and fuel retailer sectors counterbalanced these gains.
Sales in food stores slipped by 0.3% and auto fuel sales fell by 1.3%. However, sales in non-food stores grew by 0.7%. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales volume reported a marginal monthly growth of 0.2% following a 3.4% rise in January.
Year on year, overall retail sales volume experienced a decline of 0.4%, in contrast to a 0.5% increase in the previous calculation. Predictions had indicated a fall of 0.7%. Similarly, retail sales excluding auto fuel dipped by 0.5%, reversing a 0.5% increase observed a month earlier. This was more favourable than the economist's forecast of a 0.9% annual decline.
According to Alex Kerr, an economist at Capital Economics, shoppers mainly disregarded the unusually wet weather, offering further evidence of resurgence in retail activity and potentially indicating a wider economic recovery.
In other news, a monthly survey from market research group GfK revealed British households were optimistic about their future personal finances for the first time since 2021. Despite this, consumer confidence remained steady at -21 in March, albeit forecasts predicted an improvement to -19.
