According to the report from the Office for National Statistics, in November, UK retail sales increased by 4.7% per annum, offsetting a decline of 1.5% in October (revised from -1.3%). Economists had expected a 4,2% increase.
On a monthly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to 1.4% compared to +1.1% in October (revised from +0.8%). Economists had expected a 0,8% increase. Taking into account the latest increase, the volume of retail sales turned out to be 7.2% higher than the level of February 2020 (before the outbreak of the pandemic).
The data showed that the increase on a monthly basis was due to higher sales of non-food products (+2,0%), namely clothing (+2.9%) and other non-food products (+2,8%).
Meanwhile, in November, sales of automotive fuel increased by 3.7% compared to October, which was associated with the recent supply disruptions. As for grocery stores, sales decreased by 0.2%, but remained 3.2% above pre-pandemic levels.
The share of retail sales online continued to decline in November, and reached 26.9% - the lowest value since March 2020 (22.6%).