ONS Retail Sales November 2021

Retail sales (value, non-seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) rose by 5.8% year-on-year (YoY) in November, against a strong 7.3% increase a year earlier according to the latest ONS data.
Sales in November were supported by earlier than normal Christmas trading, and the period includes Black Friday but excludes Cyber Monday.
In volume terms, retail sales increased by 3.8% in November on the previous year, and edged up 1.1% compared to October (seasonally adjusted, exc. fuel) .
But previous pressure on retail sales is being reflected in the quarterly sales trend, with the three-month-on-three-month growth rate down by 0.7% in the quarter to November (volume, seasonally adjusted).

Retail sales (volume, seasonally adjusted) – 3-months on previous 3-months

Source: ONS

Food and non-food

Food store sales rose declined by 0.5% YoY in November, against a 7.4% surge in sales a year earlier during the second national lockdown (value, non-seasonally adjusted).
Clothing sales recovered in November, with sales rocketing 56.9% YoY compared to a 31.9% decline last year – with sales ahead of 2019 levels (value, non-seasonally adjusted, all businesses).
Home-related categories have come under pressure of late against strong base effects and stock shortages. This saw Household Goods decline by 5.9% YoY in November, but remain comfortably ahead of 2019 levels.
But compared to mandated store closures in November 2020, Furniture and Lighting stores sales increased 7.8% YoY in November 2021 (-4.3% last year), while sales of Floor Coverings more than doubled at 136.8% (-52.2% last year – value, non-seasonally adjusted).

Online

Online sales (non-seasonally adjusted, excluding automotive fuel) declined by 14.4% YoY in November against a strong 85.1% rise a year earlier.
The proportion of retail sales made online was 30.1% in November – down from 37.2% in the previous year, but up from 26.4% in the previous month.

Retail sales price deflator

The retail sales deflator (a measure of inflation specific to retail) excluding fuel stepped up by 4.4% YoY in November against a 1.2% decline a year earlier, and rose 6.0% when including fuel against a 1.8% decrease last year.
The implied price deflator among food stores increased by 3.4% YoY – its strongest rate in since January 2018 – and rose by 4.8% among non-food stores.