{"id":50011,"date":"2025-04-25T18:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T18:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/50011\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T18:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T18:08:12","slug":"uk-retail-sales-rose-0-4-in-march-driven-by-sunny-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/50011\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Retail Sales Rose 0.4% in March, Driven by Sunny Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retail sales in Great Britain rose by 0.4% in March, boosted by unusually sunny weather for that time of year, the Office for National Statistics<\/a> said Friday (April 25).<\/p>\n

This marked the third consecutive month of rising sales in the country, according to a Friday press release<\/a>. Together, this added up to the biggest three-month rise in retail sales the U.K. has seen since July 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cClothing and outdoor retailers reported that good weather boosted sales,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

Those retailers contributed to a 1.7% increase in sales volumes at non-food stores, a category that includes department, clothing, household and other non-food stores. This category saw its highest level of monthly sales since March 2022.<\/p>\n

Non-store retailers \u2014 a category that is mostly made up of online retailers but also includes stalls and markets \u2014 also saw an increase in sales in March. These retailers also attributed their gains to the weather, with sales of clothing and do-it-yourself (DIY) goods benefiting from the sunshine.<\/p>\n

Food stores\u2019 sales volumes, on the other hand, declined by 1.3% in March. Supermarkets experienced the biggest losses during the month.<\/p>\n

When food stores reported a decline in sales in February, the Office for National Statistics said in a press release<\/a> that these retailers cited \u201ceconomic factors such as increasing prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The portion of U.K. shoppers<\/a> adopting Click-and-Mortar\u2122 habits \u2014 an integration of online features and in-store shopping \u2014 has risen by 29% since 2020, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report, \u201c2024 Global Digital Shopping Index: U.K. Edition<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accounting and consulting firm RSM UK<\/a> said in a Friday press release<\/a> that retail sales in Great Britain might face headwinds going forward.<\/p>\n

While an increase in the National Minimum Wage in April and a surge in mortgage completions could boost sales, rising employment costs and uncertainty around tariffs could offset those gains, Jacqui Baker<\/a>, head of retail at RSM UK and chair of ICAEW<\/a>\u2019s Retail Group, said in the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis additional layer of uncertainty will impact purchasing decisions, future supply chains and place further pressure on already squeezed margins,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear retailers need support \u2014 whether that be the return of tax-free shopping or a permanently lower level of business rates \u2014 but until then, it\u2019s crucial they monitor the tariff situation closely and future proof their supply chains during the 90-day pause.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retail sales in Great Britain rose by 0.4% in March, boosted by unusually sunny weather for that time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,1700,393,4884,12,1144,3279,363,26948,712,16,26949,15,1764,3281],"class_list":{"0":"post-50011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-pymnts-news","16":"tag-retail","17":"tag-retail-sales","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-uk-retail-sales","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-wales","23":"tag-whats-hot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114399943690595091","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}