Retail sales slumped a record 5.1 percent in Britain last month as a coronavirus lockdown shut clothes and other stores, offsetting surges in food and alcohol purchases and online buying, official data showed Friday.
Food stores, among the few allowed to remain open during the government's lockdown introduced on March 23, saw record sales growth of 10.4 percent last month from February, with alcohol purchases by volume soaring 31.4 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.
However clothes store sales slumped almost 35 percent, the ONS added. With tens of millions of Britons in lockdown, online sales reached a record 22.3 percent month-on-month gain.
Analysts warned that much worse was to follow. "With widespread lockdowns only beginning around the middle of the March, retail spending looks like it will fall by much more in April, perhaps around 20-30 percent month-on-month," said Thomas Pugh, economist at Capital Economics research group.
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