Sunny spring drives retail spending in Great Britain to four-year high

Sunny spring weather sent shoppers flocking to supermarkets and specialists such as butchers, bakers and alcohol outlets last month, fuelling the strongest quarterly increase in retail sales in Great Britain in almost four years.

Retail sales volumes rose by 1.2% in April, well ahead of City economists’ forecasts of an increase of between 0.2% and 0.4%, marking the fourth straight month of sales growth.

The Office for National Statistics said that over the three months to the end of April sales rose by 1.8%, compared with the November to January period, marking the largest quarterly rise since July 2021.

The strong growth came despite the ONS revising down the 0.4% rise it had estimated in March to only 0.1%.

“Sunny skies and warm temperatures helped boost retail sales in April with strong trading across most sectors,” said Hannah Finselbach, a senior statistician at the ONS. “After a poor couple of months, food sales bounced back with supermarkets reporting robust sales, while it was also a positive month for butchers and bakers, alcohol and tobacco stores.”

The strongest growth was in food stores, with sales soaring 3.9% last month, mostly recovering the declines of February and March. Department stores registered a 2.8% increase in sales, while sales in household goods stores rose 2.1%.

However, in clothing, textile and footwear stores, which experienced the strongest growth in March, sales fell by 1.8% last month.

“Other” non-food stores, such as sports and games retailers and secondhand shops, recorded the steepest decline at 3.1%.

The UK enjoyed the sunniest and third warmest April on record, with just over half the normal rainfall, according to the Met Office.

Matt Dalton, the consumer sector leader at the Forvis Mazars consultancy, said: “While we remain optimistic, we believe that consumers may adopt a more cautious approach to spending in the months ahead. Inflation spiked in April, wage growth is slowing, and consumer confidence is falling. Overall, we expect sales to rise, albeit at a more moderate pace than in the first four months of the year.”