UK retail sales strengthen in April

According to the latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, total sales rose 5.1% last month, unchanged on March. A year previously, sales had eased 0.3% in April.

On a like-for-like basis, sales jumped 5.2% against a 4.9% improvement a month earlier and a 1.7% decline in April 2022.

The data also showed a 10% increase in food sales in the three months to April, while non-food sales nudged 0.8% higher, both on an underlying basis.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: "While retail sales grew in April, overall inflation meant volumes were down for both food and non-food as customers continued to adjusted spending habits.

"Retailers hope sales will improve over the warmer summer months, especially as consumer confidence stabilises and inflation begins to ease. However, they continue to face huge cost pressures from a tight labour market, high energy prices and other rising input costs."

Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said: "Retail sales held steady, but against a background of higher inflation year-on-year, masking how much is actually healthy growth for the sector.

"Consumer demand has so far been fairly resilient to the twin drags of high inflation and high interest rates. But as government energy support comes to an end for many, savings start to dwindle and other household bills rise, it is likely the next few months will continue to be challenging as the consumer tank empties."

Among individual categories, tourism over Easter helped boost sales of jewellery, watches and cosmetics in April, but the poor weather discouraged shoppers from buying summer clothes.

Online sales also continued to ease, as the market rebalanced post pandemic.