ONS Confirms 0.4% Rise in Great Britain Retail Sales Volumes for March to May 2026

Department stores and computer and telecoms retailers drove modest quarterly growth, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics.

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The Headline Figure

Retail sales volumes across Great Britain rose by 0.4% in the three months to May 2026 compared with the previous three months — that’s the December 2025 to February 2026 period — according to official data published by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS posted the figures on its official social media account, stating that department stores performed well in May 2026 because of good weather, while computer and telecoms retailers continued to grow following product releases in March 2026.

What the Numbers Actually Show

The 0.4% quarterly rise follows an earlier ONS figure showing retail sales volumes had already climbed by 0.5% in the three months to April 2026 compared with the three months to January 2026. Taken together, those rolling figures point to a modest upward trend in consumer spending through spring 2026 — though analysts have been quick to flag the fragility sitting beneath the surface.

Monthly data tell a choppier story. Retail sales volumes fell by 1.3% month on month in April 2026, the largest single-month drop since May 2025, after a 0.6% rise in March 2026. Fuel was the main culprit: petrol and diesel sales volumes dropped by around 10% month on month in April, dragging the headline figure sharply downward. Strip out automotive fuel and the picture improves — excluding fuel, retail sales volumes fell by just 0.4% month on month in April 2026, according to ONS data.

Short, sharp. That’s the tension in these figures: quarterly averages look encouraging; monthly swings suggest consumers remain cautious.

Sectors in Focus

The ONS identified two clear bright spots. Department stores benefited from warm May weather, which typically lifts demand for seasonal and discretionary goods. Computer and telecoms retailers, meanwhile, had already been performing well in the three months to April 2026 — a pattern the ONS says continued into May, sustained by product launches that had landed in March 2026.

But economic commentators have urged caution. Many analysts view the 0.4% quarterly rise as evidence of stabilisation rather than strong recovery, pointing out that boosts from good weather or major product launches tend to be short-lived once that initial demand is satisfied. Consumer confidence remains subdued, and cost-of-living pressures continue to limit how much households can increase discretionary spending.

The Wider Picture

ONS retail sales statistics are official National Statistics for Great Britain and measure both the volume — the quantity of goods bought — and the value of retail sales, with figures seasonally adjusted. The ONS uses rolling three-month comparisons as its standard method for smoothing out the kind of monthly volatility seen in April’s figures.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, has previously stated that sectoral detail within retail data helps explain how consumer behaviour responds to factors including weather patterns, new product cycles and price changes — a position that aligns with the department store and computer retail patterns identified in the March to May 2026 release.

Wider economic commentary around spring 2026 has described underlying retail growth as subdued but positive, with periodic boosts from events such as Easter timing, bank holidays and product launches set against a backdrop of weak consumer confidence.

Reading the Data

One caveat worth stating plainly: ONS retail sales statistics are not broken down to county level. There is no official Kent-specific retail sales volume figure for March to May 2026, and any claim to the contrary would be unverified.

Yet Kent’s retail landscape — department stores, shopping centres and high streets in Maidstone, Canterbury, Ashford, Chatham, and at Bluewater in the Dartford borough — would reasonably be expected to have followed broadly similar national patterns. Good May weather is likely to have supported in-store footfall across the county. Computer and telecoms retailers operating in Kent’s retail parks and shopping centres, including national chains, would have had access to the same March 2026 product launches that drove national growth.

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Key Takeaways

• Retail sales volumes in Great Britain rose by 0.4% in the three months to May 2026 compared with the previous three months, according to the ONS
• Department stores saw stronger sales in May 2026, linked to warm weather; computer and telecoms retailers continued growing after product releases in March 2026
• Monthly figures remain volatile — April 2026 recorded a 1.3% month-on-month fall in retail sales volumes, driven largely by a roughly 10% drop in fuel sales

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What This Means for Kent Residents

For households and businesses across Kent, the national picture offers cautious reassurance rather than cause for celebration. Retailers in towns such as Maidstone, Canterbury and Chatham, as well as larger sites like Bluewater, may have seen slightly better trading conditions over spring 2026 compared with the winter months — in line with the ONS-reported quarterly rises in volumes. The sharp April drop in fuel sales nationally does suggest that many households, including those in Kent, were cutting back on some journeys or delaying filling up at the petrol station — a reminder that cost-of-living pressures are still shaping everyday decisions. Local businesses dependent on discretionary spending should be aware that the weather-driven and product-launch-driven boosts identified by the ONS may not persist into summer and autumn, and Kent County Council along with district and borough councils are likely to be monitoring these national figures as part of ongoing town centre recovery planning.