UK retail sales outperformed the market consensus for February, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.

Retail sales volumes rose by 1.0% in February from January, well ahead of an FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.3% fall. In January, retail sales had risen 1.4%, which had been downwardly revised from 1.7%.

‘Non-food store sales volumes grew strongly in February 2025, with rises across all four sub-sectors (department, other non-food, clothing, and household goods stores), while supermarket sales volumes fell back following a strong rise in January 2025,’ said the ONS.

On an annual basis, retail sales volumes in February rose 2.2%, accelerating from a 1.0% rise in the year to January. Growth of 0.5% was expected for February, so the latest reading topped consensus.

The ONS added: ‘More broadly, there was a 0.3% rise across the three months to February 2025, when compared with the three months to November 2024. This was because of strong growth in January and February 2025. There was a 2.0% rise when comparing with the same period last year.’

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