Retail sales, Great Britain: November 2024

Retail sales volumes (quantity bought) are estimated to have risen by 0.2% in November 2024, following a fall of 0.7% in October 2024 (unrevised from our last publication).

Growth in supermarkets and other non-food stores was partly offset by a fall in clothing retailers.

The official Black Friday was on 29 November 2024 and outside our November reporting period, which covers four weeks from 27 October to 23 November 2024. Our seasonally adjusted estimates account for this shift in timing.

The chart shows the quantity bought in retail sales over time, for both the rolling three-month-on-three-month and the month-on-month movement.

Sales volumes rose by 0.2% during November 2024 following a 0.7% fall in October. Over the year to November 2024, sales volumes rose by 0.5%.

When compared with their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level in February 2020, volumes were down by 1.6%.

More broadly, there was a 0.3% rise across the three months to November 2024, when compared with the three months to August 2024. When comparing with the same period last year, there was a 1.9% rise. These data are available in our Retail Sales Index datasets.

In 2024, the official date for Black Friday was 29 November, six days after the end of our reporting period, which covers four weeks from 27 October to 23 November 2024.

The official Black Friday date falls into our December release with only early promotions captured in our November non-seasonally adjusted estimates. This change in timing is accounted for by our seasonal adjustment approach. However, some retailers reported that Black Friday sales started well in advance of the official day. We talk more about the treatment of Black Friday in our Wrapping up 'Black Friday': How the ONS captures the effect of a major shopping trend blog.

Historically, school half term for England and Wales typically fell within the October reporting period, but in 2024 fell within November. This is not adjusted for in our seasonal adjustment.

Food stores sales volumes increased for the first time in three months, rising by 0.5% in November 2024, most strongly within supermarkets.

Non-food stores sales volumes - the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores - rose 0.2% over the month with a strong positive contribution from other retail sales (not elsewhere specified). This sub-sector rose by 7.9% in November, rebounding from a 7.1% fall in October 2024. Household goods stores rose by 1.1%, with furniture stores having the largest upward contribution to growth.

Partly offsetting this, clothing stores sales volumes fell by 2.6% in November, following a 3.5% fall in October 2024. This left clothing stores sales volumes at their lowest level since January 2022, with retailers reporting that economic factors were affecting sales.

The amount spent online, known as "online spending values", fell by 4.3% during November 2024, the largest drop since March 2022. When compared with November 2023, sales values fell by 3.1%.

Total spend - the sum of in-store and online sales - rose by 0.3% over the month. As a result, the proportion of sales made online decreased from 27.5% in October 2024 to 26.2% in November, its lowest level since February 2024.

For November 2024, the Retail Sales Index (RSI) response rates were 63.9%, based on returned forms. This accounted for 93.3% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For historical response information, see our Retail sales quality tables dataset.

Information on how we calculated the data, including strengths and limitations, and a glossary of relevant terms, is available in our Retail Sales Index Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in March 2015. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".