Retail sales beat expectations in April

Retail sales volumes increased 1.2% in April 2025, up from a rise of 0.1% in March 2025, marking the fourth consecutive month of growth and easily beating forecasts of 0.2%.

Food store sales increased 3.9%, mostly recovering from falls in February and March 2025. Supermarkets, specialist food stores such as butchers and bakers, and alcohol and tobacco stores all grew during the month, with some retailers attributing this to the good weather.

Non-food stores sales volumes, the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores, fell by 0.7% over the month. This was because of falls in clothing stores and other non-food stores such as sports and games retailers, and second-hand goods stores.

These falls in sales volumes mainly followed strong growth in March 2025. Sales for department stores and household goods stores rose on the month, with retailer comments again mentioning the good weather.

Overall sales volumes rose by 1.8% in the three months to April 2025, when compared with the three months to January 2025.

ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “Sunny skies and warm temperatures helped boost retail sales in April with strong trading across most sectors. After a poor couple of months, food sales bounced back with supermarkets reporting robust sales, while it was also a positive month for butchers and bakers, alcohol and tobacco stores.

“Conversely, after a good March, clothing sales fell this month although it was a brighter picture for department stores and household good shops whose sales grew. Looking more broadly, the three-monthly growth was the largest in nearly four years.”

Kris Hamer, director of Insight at the British Retail Consortium, added: “April retail sales saw the highest growth since August 2023 thanks to Easter and the sunniest April on record. With the first taste of summer, consumer spending was up across the board, with sales of food and drink performing particularly well as people hosted Easter gatherings, barbecues, and picnics. Sales of clothing and footwear were also boosted as consumers refreshed their summer wardrobes for the unseasonally warm weather.

“Darker days are coming as April brought an additional £5bn in costs to retailers from increases in Employer National Insurance Contributions and NLW. This is set to increase to £7bn once the new packaging tax is introduced later this year. On top of this, proposed changes to business rates could see 4,000 shops facing higher costs, putting local jobs and businesses at risk across the country. If the Government wants to protect our high streets, it must ensure no shop pays more under the reforms.”