UK retail sales are estimated to have risen 1.2% in April, marking the fourth straight month of growth and reaching their highest level since July 2021.
The positive performance was largely driven by food retailers, which saw volumes increase 3.9% during the period as shoppers bought more food and drink while they enjoyed the warmer weather.
“Food store sales volumes grew strongly in April 2025, which retailers attributed to the good weather,” the Office for National Statistics noted, with supermarkets, specialist food stores including butchers and bakers, and alcohol and tobacco stores all posting growth.
Sales volumes rose 1.8% in the three months to April compared to the three months to January, marking the largest three-monthly rise since July 2021. Year on year, volumes were up 5.0%.
The picture was mixed across sectors, however, with non-food stores seeing volumes fall 0.7%, driven by declines in clothing stores and other non-food retailers such as sports and games stores. These falls largely followed strong growth in March.
Department stores bucked the non-food trend with a robust 2.8% rise, while household goods stores also posted gains, again with retailers citing favourable weather.
Online sales dipped 0.3% in April after two months of growth, causing the proportion of total sales made online to fall slightly from 27.1% to 26.8%. Despite the monthly decline, online values remained strong year on year, up 6.1% compared to April 2024.
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