Food stores prop up retail sales figures for June, says ONS

Food stores reported a sales increase of 4.2% in June compared with the previous month, with anecdotal evidence suggesting the increase was due to the Euro 2020 football championship.

Overall retail sales volumes rose more modestly (0.5%) but were 9.5% up compared with pre-coronavirus levels.

Total retail sales were also up over a longer period. Sales in the three months to June were 12.2% higher than in the previous three months, driven in large part by a strong April when non-essential retailing re-opened.

The proportion of retail sales conducted online remains higher than before the pandemic, but in June most retailers reported a fall in their proportion of online shopping, as consumers returned to physical stores.

The total proportion of online retail sales fell to 26.7% in June, down from 28.4% in May.

The ONS also noted that although food store sales volumes increased by 4.2% in June, this followed a decline of 5.5% in the previous month, when consumers had switched some food spending to hospitality as some restrictions in that sector were relaxed.