Back-to-school shopping helps boost UK retail sales

Retail sales in the UK saw a welcomed boost for the five weeks to September 28, as back-to-school shopping and autumn clothing demand helped bump figures up.

For the month, total sales rose 2 percent year-on-year, against a growth of 2.7 percent in the same period last year. This was above the three month average growth of 1.2 percent the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said in its report, and also topped the 12 month average growth of 1.1 percent.

While food sales rose 3.1 percent, non-food sales dropped 0.3 percent YoY over the three-months to September. Despite this, the figure was still above a 12-month average decline of 1.7 percent, with the sector performing “better than expected” over the period, according to BRC chief executive, Helen Dickinson.

This was also seen in the uptick of online non-food sales, which rose 3.4 percent YoY against an average decline of 3.6 percent in September 2023. Online penetration rate – referencing the proportion of non-food items bought online – was another area to welcome an increase, up 35.6 percent in September.

In her statement, Dickinson credited the performance to an increased demand for autumn wardrobe staples, such as coats, boots and knitwear, as well as the “last-minute rush for computers and clothing for the new academic year”.

She did note, however, that there were “ongoing concerns of consumers about the financial outlook that kept demand low for big ticket items such as furniture and white goods”.