British Retail Consortium (BRC) Like-For-Like Retail Sales measure

  • strips out changes in store size

Like for like +1.9% y/y in September

  • prior +1.3%
  • fastest pace of growth so far in 2017 (excluding the Easter surge)

Total sales +2.3%

  • prior +2.4% in August
  • remained stronger than in most months so far this year

More, via Reuters:

"Spending is still being focused towards essential purchases with consumers buying their winter coats and back-to-school items, but shying away from big-ticket items such as furniture and delaying the renewal of key household electrical goods," BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said.

  • On a like-for-like basis, food sales were up 2.5 percent in the three months to September
  • Non-food sales were up only 0.5 percent

Separately, data from Visa on their measure of consumer spending: +1.4% m/m in September

  • prior -0.4% m/m
  • Biggest rise since November of 2016
  • -0.3% y/y (prior +0.2%)