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Retail sales have risen 0.4% in August compared to a slight fall of 1.1% in July, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
When compared with their pre-covid level in February 2020, total retail sales were 17.3% higher in value terms, but volumes were 1.5% lower.
Food stores sales volumes rose by 1.2% in August, following a fall of 2.6% in July when supermarkets reported that the wet weather reduced clothing sales, and supermarket food sales also fell back.
Despite this partial recovery, food stores sales volumes remained 4.1% below their pre-covid February 2020 levels, as retailers continued to indicate that the increased cost of living and food prices are affecting sales volumes.
Meanwhile, non-food stores sales volumes grew by 0.6% in August, following a fall of 1.2% in July when poor weather reduced footfall. Within non-food, clothing stores sales volumes rose by 2.3% in August, mostly recovering from their fall of 2.9% in July.
Household goods stores sales volumes reported a monthly rise of 1.1% in August because of increases in hardware and furniture stores.
Sales volumes for department stores and other non-food stores, such as bookshops, both fell by 0.4% in August. Retailers suggested that consumers were still struggling with the increased cost of living and prices.
Automotive fuel sales volumes also fell by 1.2% in August, following a rise of 0.9% in July, which retailers attributed to the increasing petrol and diesel prices in August.
The ONS data also revealed that online spending values fell by 0.9% from July to August because of falls in non-store retailing and other non-food stores, both of which grew strongly in July.
This month-on-month fall in the value of online spending combined with growth in the overall value of retail sales meant the proportion of online sales fell from 27.4% in July to 26.9% in August.
Despite this, the proportion of online sales continued to exceed pre-covid pandemic levels (19.7% in February 2020), and with the exception of July (27.4%) is the highest since April 2022 (27.3%).
