UK retail sales climb 3.6% in March on Easter boost – data in World Economy News 15/04/2026 UK retail sales rose 3.6% year on year in March, accelerating from 1.1% growth in the same month last year and exceeding the 12-month average of 2.6%, according to new data on Tuesday, covering the period from March 1 to April 4. Food sales drove the increase, climbing 6.8% compared with 1.6% growth in March 2025, while non-food sales edged up 0.9% from 0.6% a year earlier. The British Retail Consortium attributed the stronger food performance to an early Easter, which brought families together over the long weekend. In-store non-food sales increased 1.4%, reversing a 0.1% decline in March 2025, but online non-food sales slowed to 0.1% growth from 1.8% the previous year. The share of non-food items purchased online fell to 37.6% from 38.1% in March 2025. Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at the British Retail Consortium, said demand was robust for computers, toys, and homeware, but clothing and footwear continued to struggle. She noted that disruption to international travel caused by the Middle East conflict also hit sales of travel-related goods. Linda Ellett, UK Head of Consumer, Retail & Leisure at KPMG, said mobile phone and computing, beauty products, and toys and baby goods all posted growth in March. She added that non-food sales growth remains tepid, growing at under 1% so far this year. Sarah Bradbury, CEO of IGD, said the Middle East conflict is having an immediate impact on costs, with petrol prices up around 18% at the pump compared to before the conflict began. She noted that shopper confidence has dropped to the lowest level since 2023. Source: Investing.com 2026-04-15 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share