Election uncertainty and poor weather impact retail sales in July

Retail sales volumes dropped 1.2 percent in June across the UK, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which had in contrast reported an increase of 2.9 percent in May.

While the organisation said that sales volumes had fallen across most sectors, department stores and clothing retailers had “broadly returned to Q1” levels.

For Q2, spanning April to June, sales dropped 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, the same percentage as the fall experienced in volumes over the year to June 2024, 1.3 percent below their pre-Covid levels.

Non-food stores (including department and clothing retailers) saw sales volumes drop 2.1 percent, following a rise of 3.3 percent in May.

All sub-sectors in this category fell over the month, with “strong downward contributions from department stores, clothing stores, footwear retailers and furniture stores”. Election uncertainty, poor weather and low footfall were cited as contributing factors for the poor performance.

Online spending took a sharper 2.7 percent drop in June 2024, but figures rose by 2.3 percent compared to the same month last year. Total spend for both in-store and online sales also fell 1.3 percent for the month.