In the three months to October 2018, the quantity bought in retail sales increased by 0.4% when compared with the previous three months; a slowdown to growth when compared with the strong summer sales, which reached a high of 2.3% in the three months to July.

In October 2018, the quantity bought fell by 0.5% when compared with September 2018, with a strong decline of 3.0% in household goods stores following a particularly strong August and September.

When compared with the previous year, the quantity bought in October 2018 increased by 2.2%, with growth across all sectors except fuel, which fell by 1.8%.

The year-on-year average store price for fuel continued to increase in October 2018 to 11.4%; this is the 26th consecutive month to show an increase.

Online sales as a total of all retailing increased to 18.0% from the 17.7% reported in September 2018, with textile, clothing and footwear stores continuing a record proportion of online sales at 18.2%; this was despite a fall in total retail spending in this sector.