(Alliance News) – UK retail sales declined in August from the month before, figures on Friday showed, with more consumers going out as lockdown measures have eased, hurting the grocery sector.
Retail sales declined 0.9% in August from July, confounding expectations of 0.5% growth, according to market consensus cited by FXStreet. It was a second straight month of lower sales. In July, they had declined 2.5% from June.
“Food store sales volumes fell by 1.2% in August 2021, with some evidence to suggest that the further easing of hospitality restrictions had an impact on sales; people increased their social spending such as eating and drinking at restaurants and bars,” the Office for National Statistics said.
“Non-food stores reported a fall of 1.0% in sales volumes in August 2021, driven by falls in department stores (negative 3.7%) and other stores, such as sports equipment and computer stores (negative 1.2%).”
Annually, retail sales were flat, missing expectations of 2.7% growth. Retail sales had risen 2.4% annually in July. August’s retail sales were, however, 4.6%…
