Retail sales volumes grew “sharply” in April 2021, with a monthly increase of 9.2%, following the re-opening of non-essential retail, reports the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

It estimates both the amount spent and quantity bought were higher in April 2021 than a year ago, when severe lockdown restrictions were implemented.

The amount spent increased by 43.4% and the quantity bought increased by 42.4%.

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But to make a more useful comparison, comparing to February 2020 (prior to the first lockdown), the ONS reports total retail sales for amount spent and quantity were still up 9.9% and 10.6% respectively.

Non-food stores provided the largest contribution to the monthly growth, providing the largest increase of 25.4%.

Household good stores grew by 10.2% month on month and was up 19.7% on February 2020, above pre-pandemic levels.

According to the Office of National Statistics, longer-term comparisons show the continuing impact of the pandemic with non-store retailing (retailers with no physical store).

This category reported growth of 56%, when compared with April 2019 highlighting a change in consumer behaviour caused by retail restrictions when shops were forced to close.

Online spending decreased in April 2021 by 5.6% when compared with March 2021, with a large decline in food stores of 11.4%.

All other sectors except non-store retailers reported declines in monthly sales, while the opening of physical stores saw the proportion of retail spending online decline to 30.0% from 34.7% in March 2021.

Household good stores online sales saw a month-on-month drop by 7.1%, although it has witnessed a 27.4% year-on-year growth.