Retail sales increase in July
New figures have shown that retail sales increased by 3.2% on a total basis in July to mark the second consecutive month of growth since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The figures from the British Retail Consortium and KMPG in their monthly retail sales monitor also reveal that like-for-like sales rose by 4.3% when figures from temporarily closed stores were excluded.
In the three months to July, food sales increased by 8.2% on a like-for-like basis and by 6.1% on a total basis which was the highest growth since June 2009.
During the same period, non-food retail sales rose by 7.9% on a like-for-like basis but declined by 4.3% on a total basis. Some of the best performing categories included furniture, homewares and kitchen accessories as well as computing equipment.
Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, said: “July saw the second month of growth as lockdown measures eased and demand gradually began to return in some places. Many shops continued to struggle as footfall was down, with many people still reluctant to go out, and fewer impulse purchases. The strongest performance came from food, furniture and homeware, as consumers increasingly invest in their time at home, however, many shops, particularly in fashion, jewellery and beauty, are still struggling to survive. Online sales remained buoyant, slowing only slightly despite more shops reopening.”
Meanwhile, online sales of non-food items rose by 41% in July.
