I know we have come to accept poor data from Brexit land but this is an eye opener indeed.

Total retail sales fell 2.7% y/y

  • the biggest fall - excluding distortions caused by the timing of Easter - since the British Retail Consortium's records began in 1995

BRC add a caveat - that the May fall should be seen in the context of an unusually strong jump of 4.1% in May 2018.

"But even the three-month average - which softens the monthly volatility - demonstrates that achieving growth in retail remains a real struggle" said Paul Martin, head of UK retail at accountancy firm KPMG

  • Sales rose by 0.2% in the three months to May, the weakest growth since the three months to March 2017

Like-for-like terms:

-3.0% in May

  • biggest fall since the end of 2008, excluding Easter periods
  • expected +0.8%, prior +3.7%

via Reuters