Shoppers are coming back to the high street but the retail sector is still struggling to return to normal
Retail sales rose by 3.4 per cent in June.
Sales grew for the first time since the lockdown was imposed and at their fastest rate since May 2018.
Online sales of non-food items increased by 48.2 per cent in June, up from 3.3 per cent in June 2019 and above the 12-month average growth rate of 17.1 per cent.
In-store sales of non-food items declined by 46.8 per cent. This was worse than the 12-month average of -16.5 per cent.
Over the three months to June, non-food retail sales fell by 15 per cent.
Food retailers performed strongly, with sales rising by 3.8 per cent on an overall basis. This was higher than the 12-month average growth rate of 2.7 per cent.