ONS said retail sales volumes in the UK dropped by 1.4 percent in March, following a decline of 0.5 percent a month prior as shoppers were forced to tighten their belts as the cost of goods soared.
According to Thursday’s data, the largest contribution in the decline came from non-store retailing, which includes online retailers and mail orders, among others, which saw sales volumes fall by 7.9 percent over the month following a drop of 6.9 percent in February.
Meanwhile, compared with a year earlier, March retail sales were up 0.9 percent. Economists had expected a rise of 2.8 percent.
Despite March’s declines, sales volumes were 20.3 percent above their February 2020 pre-pandemic levels, ONS said.
Food store sales volumes also fell by 1.1 percent, continuing a downward trend that began in November 2021, which ONS credited to higher spending in pubs and restaurants as COVID-19 restrictions eased, along with the impact of rising food prices across supermarket stores.
Darren Morgan, a director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “Retail sales fell back notably in March, with rises in the cost of living hitting consumers’ spending. Online sales were hit particularly hard due to lower levels of discretionary spending.”
“April data pointed to a much weaker speed of recovery across the UK economy, largely due to the slowest rise in new orders so far in 2022. Survey respondents mainly noted that the cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty arising from the war in Ukraine had impacted client demand,” economists wrote.
The latest data comes as inflation levels reached a 30-year high of 7 percent in the UK in March and are forecasted to rise further this month as gas and electricity prices across the nation soared.
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