{"id":598989,"date":"2026-05-23T01:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598989\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T01:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:32:30","slug":"uk-retail-sales-plunge-as-soaring-fuel-prices-force-shoppers-to-make-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598989\/","title":{"rendered":"UK retail sales plunge as soaring fuel prices force shoppers to make cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UK<\/a> retail sales<\/a> tumbled at their fastest rate for almost a year in April, as soaring petrol and diesel prices hit fuel sales and demand for clothing waned, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

The Office for National Statistics<\/a> (ONS) reported that the total volume of retail sales,<\/a> which measures the quantity of goods bought, fell by 1.3 per cent during the month.<\/p>\n

This marked the largest drop since May 2025 and represented a heavier fall than anticipated by economists, <\/a>who had forecast a 0.6 per cent decline. It also compared with a 0.6 per cent rise in March, which was revised slightly lower.<\/p>\n

Statisticians indicated that the decline in overall volumes was particularly linked to a sharp drop in sales of motor fuel, which slid by 10.2 per cent in April \u2013 the largest fall for this category since November 2020.<\/p>\n

Retailers suggested the drop was due to motorists making fewer journeys and delaying filling up their vehicles in the face of high prices.<\/p>\n

This followed a spike in volumes during March, when drivers had stocked up after the breakout of the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the price of petrol lifted to its highest level since the conflict began, at 158.52p per litre.<\/p>\n

Petrol is up 19.3 per cent since the war sparked a rise in crude oil prices, while diesel is 30.6 per cent higher.<\/p>\n

Retail sales volumes were however still weaker excluding fuel, with 0.4 per cent fall for the month.<\/p>\n

Weaker sales from clothing retailers were also a drag on the performance during April.<\/p>\n

Clothing firms saw a 2.4 per cent decline as they reported \u201cvariable weather conditions during the month\u201d, lower demand and consumer sensitivity towards prices.<\/p>\n

\"The The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the total volume of retail sales, which measures the quantity bought, fell by 1.3 per cent in April (PA Archive) <\/p>\n

Non-store retailers, which is predominantly online retail platforms, also saw a decline for the month driven by weaker demand.<\/p>\n

The ONS said sales volumes were still higher for the quarter, up 0.5 per cent over the three months to April, despite the latest monthly decline.<\/p>\n

Grant Fitzner, ONS chief economist, said: \u201cRetail sales increased in the three months to April with strong and sustained sales for beauty product stores as well as computer and tech shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter strong growth last month, motor fuel sales fell in April, with evidence suggesting motorists were conserving fuel after stocking up in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese subdued fuel purchases contributed to a sizeable monthly fall for total retail sales in April.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvir Dhillon, economist at the British Retail Consortium<\/a>, said: \u201cWe are starting to see signs that concerns over the Middle East conflict and its impact on living costs are leading shoppers to rein in their spending in many areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast month, fashion sales, particularly for large retailers, performed poorly, partly owing to the poor weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers<\/a> also conserved their fuel consumption following the spike in petrol and diesel prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK, said: \u201cConsumers pulled back on spending in April as the Iran war continued to drag on sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main glimmer of hope was health and beauty, with shoppers indulging in small, feel-good luxuries to get them through current uncertainty and the tough economic outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK retail sales tumbled at their fastest rate for almost a year in April, as soaring petrol and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,167164,1294,204509,204510,2094,36792,188802,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-598989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-diesel-prices","tag-economy","tag-fuel-sales","tag-motor-fuel","tag-office-for-national-statistics","tag-retail-sales","tag-sales-volumes","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}