Easter chill for UK Fashion as online sales plunge

UK fashion retail suffered a sharp decline in the week ending 5 April 2026, with total like-for-like sales contracting by -14.09%, according to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker. The drop comes off a positive base of +3.51% for the same week last year, which included the Easter break.

The most striking feature of the data is the gulf between in-store and online performance. Store fashion sales fell by a relatively modest -1.05%, compared to +6.07% a year earlier. Non-store fashion sales, however, plummeted by -21.26% — the sharpest category decline in the tracker — against a positive base of +2.48% last year.

The pattern was not unique to fashion. Total non-store sales across all categories saw their largest contraction since 2025, falling -13.53%. Non-store lifestyle sales dropped -14.06%, suggesting a broad pullback in online spending rather than a fashion-specific issue.

Physical retail, by contrast, held up comparatively well. Total store like-for-like sales edged down just -0.24%. Shopping centre footfall rose by +0.6%, even as high street footfall fell -2.3% and retail park visits declined -3.4%. The week marked the third consecutive period of falling sales across both store and non-store channels and all retail categories. Storm Dave, which brought heavy rain and disruption to parts of the country over the Easter weekend, added to an already challenging picture, though tough year-on-year comparisons — particularly in homewares, where last year's base was +21.67% — are a significant factor in the headline declines.

For fashion retailers, the data raises questions about the resilience of digital channels during holiday periods, and whether the physical store is proving a more dependable anchor than many in the industry had assumed.