Retail Sales - Summary, April 2012

All retailers, April 2012 (seasonally adjusted percentage change)

Retail sales values slowed and volumes have fallen in April 2012 setting two records.

All retailing sales values increased in April 2012 by 0.4 per cent compared with April 2011 and decreased by 2.8 per cent compared with March 2012. One of the main sources of downward pressure to year-on-year growth in sales values came from the predominantly food sector and while sales values increased by 0.1 per cent, this was the smallest ever year-on-year growth in sales values for this sector since the series started in January 1989.

All retailing sales volumes decreased in April 2012 by 1.1 per cent compared with April 2011 and by 2.3 per cent compared with March 2012. The main source of downward pressure to the month-on-month growth rate came from the predominantly automotive fuel sector where sales volumes fell by 13.2 per cent, the largest fall in this series which started in February 1996.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Background notes

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