British shoppers kept up their strong summer spending spree in August and showed no sign that the approach of Brexit is making them cautious, new figures show today.
In another sign that the country's overall economy is on track for solid growth in the third quarter of 2018, retail sales jumped by 3.3% compared with August last year.
The figure was stronger than all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.
While it was slightly slower than an upwardly revised 3.8% leap in July, that jump was widely seen as a response to the soccer World Cup and soaring summer temperatures.
In monthly terms, sales rose by 0.3% in August from July, the Office for National Statistics said, defying the median forecast in the Reuters poll for a fall of 0.2%.
Looking at the three months to August as a whole, which smoothes out some monthly volatility, growth in sales slowed to 2%, down from 2.4% in July.
UK consumers have helped lessen the hit to the overall economy from the 2016 Brexit vote with their spending, even as their purchasing power has been squeezed by high inflation and only slow growth in their wages.
Figures published earlier this week showed UK inflation jumped to a six-month high of 2.7% in the 12 months to August.
Last week, surveys from the British Retail Consortium and Barclaycard suggested consumers had shifted some of their spending in August away from shops to pubs which saw an increase in takings.
While UK consumers have largely defied the pinch on their spending power, high street retailers have had to resort to steep discounts.
The ONS said sales in August were boosted by shops offering promotions on household goods such as furniture and electrical appliances while food sales and clothing fell compared with July.
Britain's biggest retailer Tesco yesterday launched a new grocery store brand to compete with fast-growing German discounters Aldi and Lidl on price.
Meanwhile, clothing retail French Connection said today it expected to close eight more stores in 2018 and it had reviewed lease contracts of other loss-making stores, citing the deterioration of trading conditions on the high street.
The sector is grappling with the shift to online spending. Today's figures showed online spending accounted for a record 18.2% of all UK retailing in August.
