Retail sales increased by 1.4% in April 2022 after declining by 1.2% in March 2022, with sales up 4.1% above pre-coronavirus levels in February 2020. .
In the three months to April 2022, sales fell by 0.3% compared to the previous three months; this continues the downward trend of the summer of 2021.
The volume of sales in grocery stores increased by 2.8% in April 2022, which ONS said it was “mostly because of the higher costs of alcohol and tobacco in supermarkets”; food sales in supermarkets generally remained unchanged.
Retail sales outside stores increased by 3.7% in April 2022, driven by stronger clothing sales.
Sales of automotive fuels increased by 1.4% in April 2022 after a decline of 4.2% in March, when record increases in gasoline prices affected sales.
The volume of sales in non-food stores decreased by 0.6% in April 2022 due to the decline in other non-food stores (-3.3%) and household goods stores (-0.5%), such as furniture stores .
The share of online retail sales rose to 27.0% in April 2022 from 25.9% in March and remained significantly higher than 19.9% ​​in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic.
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