- Prior -0.1%
- Retail sales +2.5% vs +1.1% y/y expected
- Prior +0.6%; revised to +1.8%
- Retail sales ex autos, fuel +0.3% vs -0.2% m/m expected
- Prior -0.2%
- Retail sales ex autos, fuel +3.1% vs +1.7% y/y expected
- Prior +1.2%
The beat in UK retail sales here comes mainly from a surge in sales from non-store retailers (+4.2%), following declines here in October and November before. It seems like the melt up in gold and silver is spilling over to retail buying as online jewellers reported that demand for precious metals picked up in December.
Besides that, the breakdown shows just marginal increases in food store sales (+0.2%), and a slight bump in non-food store sales (+1.0%). Meanwhile, department store sales (-1.9%) showed a sharp decline alongside textile clothing sales (-0.7%) and household goods store sales (-3.4%).
Looking at the year as a whole, all main sectors except automotive fuel rose on the year. The breakdown sees food store sales rose for the first time since 2021, but did not fully recover from their fall in 2024. Meanwhile, both non-food stores and non-store retailers rose for the second year in a row, recovering from drops in 2023. However, volumes for non-store retailers remained clearly below their peak in 2021 – which was achieved because of physical store closures during the pandemic. So, there’s that.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.