Retail Sales Drop In May As Consumers Hold Back On Spending

The ONS has published retail sales data for May, noting a 2.7% decline in retail sales volumes after a rise of 1.3% in April.

Main points

• Retail sales volumes (quantity bought) are estimated to have fallen by 2.7% in May 2025, following a rise of 1.3% in April 2025 (revised up from a rise of 1.2% in previous bulletin). This was the largest fall on the month since December 2023. Sales volumes fell by 1.3% over the year to May 2025.
  
  

• Despite this fall on the month, there was a 0.8% rise across the three months to May 2025 when compared with the three months to February 2025, and a 1.7% rise when comparing with the three months to May 2024. 

• Volumes were down by 2.7%, compared with their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level in February 2020, reaching their lowest level since December 2024.

• Food stores sales volumes fell by 5.0% in May 2025 following growth of 4.7% in April. This followed a strong rise in April which retailers attributed to the good weather. This was their largest monthly fall since May 2021. The fall was mainly because of reduced sales volumes in supermarkets, with retailer comments talking of inflation and customer cutbacks, alongside reduced sales of alcohol and tobacco products.

• Non-food stores sales volumes - the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores - fell by 1.4% over the month, mainly because of falls in clothing and household goods stores such as hardware, paints and glass retailers. Retailer comments mentioned reduced footfall and consumers having completed home projects earlier than usual this year because of good weather, leading to lower sales in May.

• The amount spent online, known as "online spending values", fell by 1.0% over the month to May 2025 and by 2.5% when comparing May 2025 with May 2024. More broadly, sales values rose by 3.6% when comparing the three months to May 2025 with the three months to February 2025.

• Total spend - the sum of in-store and online sales - fell by 2.4% over the month. As a result, the proportion of sales made online rose from 26.8% in April 2025 to 27.2% in May 2025.

Commentary

Responding to the latest ONS Retail Sales Index figures, which showed sales down -0.1% by value, and down -1.3% by volume, Kris Hamer, Director of Insight at the British Retail Consortium, said:

“May sales saw the weakest growth in 2025 as many consumers hold back on spending on retail, and opt to use their spare cash on experiences and summer holidays. Some non-food categories such as fashion and footwear had a particularly poor month, and beauty sales also continued to come down after a consistently strong period of growth last year. Meanwhile, some electricals sold well, particularly gaming which was largely due to the very strong pre-sales of the new Nintendo.”

“This weak consumer demand comes at a particularly bad time as retailers are having to grapple with billions of pounds of extra costs this year following the Chancellor’s Budget last October. The future of business rates reforms is still unclear, but It is vital that it does not result in any shop paying more. Otherwise many retailers could be forced to shut down stores, which will impact jobs and local communities, and ultimately the UK’s economic growth.”

Source : ONS, BRC

Image : shutterstock / 1137631598 / William Barton

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