UK retail sales increased in May, though the trio of bank holidays failed to boost figures by as much as expected, according to new data.
The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor showed sales growth slowed to its lowest level in six months with total UK retail sales up by 3.9% last month, against a decline of 1.1% in May 2022 and below the three-month average growth of 4.7%.
In a statement, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “With consumer confidence still recovering from record depths, and continued tightening of household incomes, we are unlikely to see substantial sales growth in the coming months.”
On a like-for-like basis, sales increased 3.7% year-on-year last month, falling below the three-month average rise of 4.7%. In May 2022, sales had fallen 1.5% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.
Food sales were up 9.6% on a year ago, boosted by the Coronation but still not sustained across the month.
Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said the grocery sector was the “fastest growing part of the consumer wallet”, which meant that consumers were “having to spend more . . . in the one area that is getting disproportionately more expensive”.
Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics commented: “Retail sales volumes still appear to be oscillating around a flat trend, despite the emerging recovery in consumers’ confidence and the support in May from the extra bank holiday for the King’s coronation.”
After seasonally adjusting and deflating the BRC’s figures, he said “we think that they are consistent with around a 1.0% month-to-month drop in the official measure of retail sales volumes in May, which would more than reverse April’s 0.5% increase.”