According to the report from the Office for National Statistics, at the end of last month, retail sales in Britain increased by 0.8% after remaining unchanged in September (revised from -0.2%). Analysts had expected sales to grow by 0.5%. Taking into account the latest increase, retail sales volumes were 5.8% higher than in February 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).
If we consider the main sectors, the increase in sales was recorded only in non-food stores (+4.2%), which was facilitated by growth in toy stores, second-hand stores, sports equipment stores and clothing stores (+6.2%).
The data also showed that in October, sales of motor fuel decreased by 6.4%, and turned out to be 5.0% lower than the level observed before the pandemic. As for grocery stores, they recorded a decrease in sales by 0.3% at the end of last month, but remained 3.4% higher than in February 2020. The share of online retail sales fell to 27.3% in October, reaching the lowest level since March 2020. However, the share of online retail sales remained higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic (19.7%).
In annual terms, retail sales decreased by 1.3% in October after falling by 0.6% in September. Sales were expected to fall by 2%.