9.3% fall in household goods stores such as furniture and lighting

Retail sales volumes in the United Kingdom (UK) fell by 0.2 per cent last month when compared to the previous month in August 2021.

The UK Office for National Statistics reports that this was 4.2 per cent higher than in February 2020, before the impact of coronavirus. The downward movement in September was primarily due to a decrease in the largest contributor ‘Non-food stores’ by 0.5 per cent in sales volumes.

This has resulted in a 9.3 per cent fall in household goods stores, such as furniture and lighting stores. However, food stores sales volumes increased by 0.6 per cent in September, rebounding from a fall of 1.4 per cent in August.

In addition, food sales volumes were 3.9 per cent above pre-COVID levels in February 2020. Automotive fuels sales volumes rose by 2.9 per cent in September 2021, compared to August 2021, following an increased demand at the end of September.

Sales volumes for Automotive fuel above pre-COVID levels

September volumes for Automotive fuels were above February 2020 by 1.8 per cent.

“In feedback from retailers, while many noted increased turnover during the last week of September resulting in increased sales over the month, other fuel retailers confirmed issues with deliveries and shortages at sites which had a downward impact on the value of their fuel sold over the month,” the Office for National Statistics has pointed out.

Additionally, online spending values increased in September 2021 by 0.5 per cent when compared with August 2021 and higher than pre-COVID proportion of 19.7 per cent in February 2020. This was largely because of an increase in department stores sales value by 3.8 per cent.

The monthly increase in online spending values resulted in a slight increase in the proportion of online sales, which increased to 28.1 per cent in September 2021, from 27.9 per cent in August.