Retail sales in the UK increased slightly in March, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with apparel and shoe retailers seeing particularly high sales growth.
Following a 0.7 per cent gain in February, overall volumes increased by 0.4 per cent throughout the month. In contrast, sales volumes decreased 0.3 per cent from February 2020 to March, up 2.6 per cent from the previous year, but still below pre-COVID levels.
Clothing and footwear stores reported an over 4 per cent increase in sales, the best month of any category. The increase in sales, which was credited to good weather, helped to offset the lower monthly rise of 1.7 per cent observed across all non-food retailers.
RSM UK’s head of retail, Jacqui Baker, responded to the report by stating that sales volumes increased for the third consecutive month and hit their highest level since 2022.
