British retail sales reversed in September after a bounce in August when good weather drew consumers back to supermarkets and shopping malls, the country’s main statistical agency said Friday. File photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
British retail sales swung into reverse in September after a bounce in August, the country’s main statistical agency said Friday.
Sales volumes fell 0.9%, compared with a rise of 0.4% in August 2023, as stretched consumers focused on the essentials, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics. Advertisement
Motor fuel and food were the only categories where sales volumes grew but even food store sales growth slowed, rising just 0.2% in September 2023, down from a 1.4% rise in August when good weather enticed consumers back to supermarkets and shopping malls. Motor fuel sales volumes rebounded into the black to post a 0.8% increase after a 1% fall in August.
Sales volumes in non-food stores fell 1.9% in September while the fortunes of online retailers went from bad to worse with a sales drought gathering pace with volumes down 2.2% on top of a 0.9% fall in August.
“Retail sales fell notably in September with retailers telling us that cost of living pressures are influencing consumers, particularly for sales of non-essential goods,” ONS Chief Executive Grant Fitzner said in a post on X.
September was also a bad month for clothing stores as warm fall weather hit sales of cold weather gear, Fitzner added, but those same unseasonal conditions helped drive up food sales slightly. Advertisement
The numbers reinforce an overall negative trend indicated by the broader quarterly measure showing sales volumes down by 0.8% in the July to September period compared with the previous three months.
Viewed over the longer timescale, food sales volumes fell by 1.3% in the three months to September 2023. Compared to pre-COVID-19 February 2020 levels, food store sales volumes were down 3.7%.
Volumes are under ongoing pressure from rising prices with the result that consumers are spending more but getting less for their money with the divergence, which began May 2021, continuing to widen and showing no signs of halting or reversing.
Total September retail sales volumes were up just 2.5% compared with pre-COVID-19 February 2020 levels but the value of those sales rocketed 17.1%.
Separately, the ONS reported that the government borrowed $17.3 billion in September — $1.9 billion less than in September 2022 — but the sixth highest since records began in 1993.
The borrowing increased public sector net debt by 2.1% from September 2022 to $3.16 trillion, which the ONS provisionally estimates to be equivalent to 97.8% of GDP, a level not seen in 60 years.
However, the debt-to-GDP ratio has edged lower from the critical 100.1% hit in May when Britain’s national debt reached $3.27 trillion. Advertisement
