Copy article

Retail sales volumes fell by 0.4% in February

ended 27. March 2026

The quantity of goods bought (volume) in retail sales is estimated to have risen by 0.7% in the three months to February 2026, compared with the three months to November 2025, new data shows.

The rise was mainly because of better sales for non-store retailers in the three months to February 2026, following a weaker November 2025, as well as strong artwork sales volumes in January 2026.

Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 0.4% in February 2026, following a rise of 2.0% in January 2026, (revised up from a 1.8% rise in our previous publication) and a rise of 0.1% in December 2025 (revised down from a 0.4% rise in our previous publication). 

Supermarkets' sales volumes fell back following a rise in January 2026. Non-store retailers' volumes also fell in February, with retailers suggesting that consumers brought forward their spending to January 2026, to maximise on discounting during the period.

  • What is your reaction to retail sales going down in February? Though the last three months has seen a rise.
  • Retailers: Are you seeing this happening in your business?
  • Consumers: Have you stopped spending as much?

Responses asap as this is breaking.

4 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Editor
Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
More narrative to highlight how poorly the government has grasped the economic situation, and with these pre-conflict statistics, you can only imagine that the public will spend even less in March and for the foreseeable future. Our economy is both fragile and faltering, and will only get worse while Trump dithers over his next move, and the UK do nothing but wait.
Copy

Premium
Jennie Prewett
Founder and Trustee at Incredible Kids
Normal people are horrified by the price of everything. When even a lunchtime meal-deal costs over £7 people stop shopping. The most vulnerable in society can't afford the price of basic supplies and it's a scary place to be.
Copy

Nicholas Found
Head of Commercial Insights at Retail Economics
February exposed a retail market where spending was narrow, selective and event-led, including Valentine’s Day giving a modest lift to gifting categories, ahead of new fears over inflation and the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict.
Wet weather and a post-January pullback left households spending cautiously, buying with intent and waiting for compelling reasons to open their wallets.
This year is shaping up as a battle for market share against lacklustre economic growth. Retailers are facing a tough operating environment of fragile demand, rising labour costs, and a growing need to invest in productivity.
Consumer spending is still there, but it is far more concentrated and fragmented. The winners combine sharp value perception, genuine differentiation and disciplined execution across channels. Strong results from Next this week demonstrate what’s still possible.
In this environment, retailers need a much sharper understanding of who their customers are and what they value
Copy

Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
January's bump was people grabbing discounts before they disappeared. The three-month trend looks steady until you ask why February fell back. Retailers are telling us consumers front-loaded their spending into January sales because households make calculated decisions about when to spend, because they're not sure what's coming next.

Job insecurity is doing untold damage right now. AI transformation is reshaping whole sectors without anyone being honest about the transition costs and who will win and who will lose. Business rates, energy, wage bills: costs that get passed on or absorbed as margin cuts, neither of which helps the person at the till.

The non-store retail lift tells you something too. People shopping online at 11pm aren't browsing in high spirits. They're optimising, waiting to snipe the product ad the right price.

February's dip isn't a blip. It's what cautious looks like when the economic ground feels unstable and the economy keeps producing new reasons to hold back.