Commenting on the Office of National Statistics retail sales index for July 2024, Kien Tan, Senior Retail Adviser at PwC UK, said:
"After unseasonably cool weather caused the washout of June’s results, retail sales in July recovered somewhat, as expected, with the volume of goods sold excluding petrol rising by 1.4% compared with last year - a 0.7% improvement on the previous month. In pound note terms, this translated into a 2.2% increase in retail sales compared with last July.
Not surprisingly for a month bookended by the end of the Euros and the start of the Olympics, sporting and audio-visual goods all outperformed, and grocery sales recovered. However, sales for most other categories of retail remained sluggish.
The mini-heatwave in the last week of the month came too late for fashion retailers eager to clear summer season’s stock, with sales volumes declining in this category for the 11th month in a row. And despite improving consumer sentiment and an interest rate cut, shoppers remained cautious around household and other bigger ticket purchases.
The poorer weather at the start of the month also meant lower high street footfall and helped online sales rise to 27.8% of all retail sales - the highest penetration of online for over two years.
Despite perhaps a disappointing performance for parts of the retail sector in July, we do expect further recovery in the short-to-medium term. The summer weather finally reaching the country this month will be better news for grocery and fashion; and the more favourable economic backdrop of higher wages, lower inflation and lower interest rates augur well for spending more widely in the run-up to Christmas."
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