New figures highlight ‘weak’ retail performance in July

Food sales declined by 1.5% during the month, compared with June, as more consumers were able to return to hospitality venues because of the easing of lockdown restrictions.

Another factor was the end of the Euro 2020 football tournament which had provided a short-term boost for food and drink sales in June.

This fall is broadly in line with debit and credit card data, which also shows a decline in spending on food between June and July alongside an increase in social spending (eating out and takeaways) which may be linked to the lifting of hospitality restrictions.

However, the longer-term retail trends are more positive when compared with pre-pandemic sales performances.

Retail sales in July were 5.8% higher than in February 2020, before the impact of coronavirus and national lockdowns started to impact on business.

Sales of food through retail outlets in July were also 4.9% above the pre-pandemic levels of early 2020.

The new ONS data also shows that retail sales volumes over the last three months are up 11% on a year ago while business in July was 2.4% higher than the same month last year.

The proportion of retail sales online increased to 27.9% in July from 27.1% in June and remains substantially higher than the proportion of online retail spending in February 2020 when it was just 19.8%.