[caption id="attachment_89123" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted
Source: ONS/Coresight Research[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_89124" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Source: ONS/Coresight Research[/caption]  

Retail Sales Growth by Sector

The late timing of Easter and warmer weather provided a boost for grocery retailers, clothing stores and department stores/mixed-goods retailers — with each of these sectors seeing an improved performance in April. However, the DIY sector, which should have been a beneficiary of a warm, late Easter, continued to decline. For the past several months, ONS data have been volatile for fragmented sectors, in which independents and small chains hold substantial shares. In April, this pattern continued with unusually strong growth for computers and telecoms equipment (up 28.2%), and other nonstore retail (up 25.1%). At the same time, there were declines in sectors such as floor covering retailers, and beverage and tobacco retailers. [caption id="attachment_89125" align="aligncenter" width="720"] *A small retailer is defined as one with fewer than 100 employees or with revenues of £60 million or less per year; all others are large retailers
**A relatively fragmented sector, in which reported figures have traditionally been volatile
Source: ONS[/caption]  

Online Retail Sales Growth

Total Internet retail sales were up 9.7% year over year in April, versus 12.5% growth in March and the slowest growth since December 2017. In April, Internet sales at food retailers were up 0.9%, after a sales decline of 1.1% in March. The Easter shift positively impacted online grocery sales. In April, Internet sales were up 15.4% at nonfood retailers and 8.4% at nonstore retailers.