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Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted
Source: ONS/Coresight Research [/caption] [caption id="attachment_81587" align="aligncenter" width="620"]
Source: ONS/Coresight Research[/caption]
Retail Sales Growth by Sector
While February was strong at the top line, a closer review shows that small retailers and fragmented sectors continued to drive this total growth. For some time, ONS data has proved volatile for fragmented sectors — the sectors in which independents and small chains hold substantial shares. In February, this pattern continued with unusually strong growth for sectors such as specialist food stores, small clothing specialists, and health and beauty retailers; and, deep declines in sectors such as floor coverings retailers, and music and video retailers (though the latter is also serving a market in structural decline). Likewise, a preponderance of small retailers may account for the sudden swing from reported deep declines to strong growth in the footwear specialists sector.
Elsewhere, growth was tepid at best for the core sectors of grocery, department stores/mixed-goods retailers and large clothing specialists (the latter of which accounts for around 90% of the clothing specialist sector). Amid the volatility in reported numbers, reading trends in big-ticket categories can be problematic, though the declines across furniture, electrical goods, and floor coverings retailers suggest soft demand, even if the magnitude of some of those declines may be questionable. The slowdown from hard-to-explain double-digit reported growth in the DIY and hardware sector may further imply a softening of big-ticket demand.
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*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 small or fragmented sector, in which reported figures have traditionally been volatile
Source: ONS [/caption] Online Retail Sales Growth Total Internet retail sales were up 9.4% year over year in February, versus 9.8% growth in January. In February, Internet sales grew just 0.3% at food retailers, 11.2% at nonfood retailers and 11.0% at nonstore retailers.
Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted Source: ONS/Coresight Research [/caption] [caption id="attachment_81587" align="aligncenter" width="620"]
Source: ONS/Coresight Research[/caption]
Retail Sales Growth by Sector
While February was strong at the top line, a closer review shows that small retailers and fragmented sectors continued to drive this total growth. For some time, ONS data has proved volatile for fragmented sectors — the sectors in which independents and small chains hold substantial shares. In February, this pattern continued with unusually strong growth for sectors such as specialist food stores, small clothing specialists, and health and beauty retailers; and, deep declines in sectors such as floor coverings retailers, and music and video retailers (though the latter is also serving a market in structural decline). Likewise, a preponderance of small retailers may account for the sudden swing from reported deep declines to strong growth in the footwear specialists sector.
Elsewhere, growth was tepid at best for the core sectors of grocery, department stores/mixed-goods retailers and large clothing specialists (the latter of which accounts for around 90% of the clothing specialist sector). Amid the volatility in reported numbers, reading trends in big-ticket categories can be problematic, though the declines across furniture, electrical goods, and floor coverings retailers suggest soft demand, even if the magnitude of some of those declines may be questionable. The slowdown from hard-to-explain double-digit reported growth in the DIY and hardware sector may further imply a softening of big-ticket demand.
[caption id="attachment_81588" align="aligncenter" width="620"] *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 small or fragmented sector, in which reported figures have traditionally been volatile
Source: ONS [/caption] Online Retail Sales Growth Total Internet retail sales were up 9.4% year over year in February, versus 9.8% growth in January. In February, Internet sales grew just 0.3% at food retailers, 11.2% at nonfood retailers and 11.0% at nonstore retailers.