Retail sales beat expectations in the UK in July, according to the Office of National Statistics…(ONS)
- M-O-M: Retail sales volumes rose by 0.3% in July, this is up from the 0.2% decline in June 2022.
- Y-O-Y: Retail sales were down 3.3% from the same time one year ago.
Breaking it down. Online retailers led the increase in spending with a 4.8% increase in July followed by a slight increase in grocery stores (=0.1%). However, most other categories declined month-over-month with gas stations taking the top spot with a 0.9% decline followed by all non-food stores falling by 0.7%.
Inflation adjusted. Even though retail sales were up, they are still down when adjusted for inflation. Annual inflation jumped over 10% this month thanks to a 0.6% increase month-over-month. This means even with the better-than-expected 0.3% increase in consumer activity retail sales are still down 0.3% when adjusted for inflation.
Consumer sentiment. This week it was reported that consumer confidence in the UK was lower than at any time since the survey began in January 1974.