Retail sales pick up in August boosted by clothing & footwear

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 20, 2017

The latest UK retail sales figures have surprised City analysts, growing by 1% month-on-month in August instead of the forecasted 0.2%. The data also suggests consumers are still spending strongly despite price increases.

Compared with August 2016, retail sales increased by 2.4%, the 52nd consecutive month of year-on-year increase.

The ONS said contributions to the overall growth came from non-essential items, particularly from textile, clothing and footwear stores, which experienced a 3.4% increase in volumes.

Ads

Fashion shoppers spent 7.9% more than they did a year earlier, powered by a 4.2% increase in store prices. Prices increased at a faster rate in clothing and footwear stores than they did in other non-food stores, according to the ONS report.

This drove the overall non-food stores category to record its highest year-on-year price growth since March 1992 at 3.2%. Non-store retailing also experienced a high year-on-year price growth at 3.3%.

“Within this month’s retail sales we are seeing strong price increases across all store types compared with a year ago, reflecting wider inflationary pressures. However, we are still seeing underlying growth in sales volumes, and with strong growth in non-essential purchases as consumers continued to buy more from non-food stores,” commented Kate Davies, ONS Senior Statistician.

The ONS said the underlying pattern in the retail industry is one of growth, as the quantity bought has increased by 1.2% on a three-monthly basis.