United Kingdom Retail July BRC Non food sales 0.7 yoy with online +1.3 , in store 1.9

Equity Research 11 August 2026 | 8:03AM BST

United Kingdom Retail: July BRC: Non-food sales -0.7% yoy with online +1.3%, in-store -1.9%

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) released its July ‘Retail Sales Monitor’ for the four Richard Edwards | weeks covering 5th July 2026 to 1st August 2026. Total retail sales came in at Goldman Sachs International +1.3% yoy in July, with Non-food retail sales -0.7% and Food +3.8%. Ben Williams | At a category level, non-food sales were led by clothing, health & beauty, and Goldman Sachs International jewellery & watches. BRC noted that non-food retail sales were hit by a decline in Hamish Bogdan footfall as shoppers avoided the hot weather. | Goldman Sachs International Non-food online penetration was 35.9% (+50bps yoy), with clothing online penetration 34.3% (+180bps yoy). July non-food online sales were +1.3%, with store sales -1.9% yoy. Within online, clothing, health & beauty, and home accessories saw the most growth.

What does it all mean? The -0.7% July non-food sales growth figure represents a deceleration from the +1.2% non-food sales growth in June, and far below the +3.5% achieved in May. This compares with our +0.7% 3Q26E UK Household Available Cashflow forecast (and +0.8% in 4Q26E) reflecting slowing wage growth and employment, and rising fixed costs (see here). Notably, restaurants and recreation & culture have been the primary beneficiaries of yoy HAC growth recently.

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Goldman Sachs United Kingdom Retail

Exhibit 1: Non-food yoy total growth, by channel Exhibit 2: BRC online non-food growth vs non-food online Jun-24 to Jul-26 penetration (RHS) Jan-14 to Jul-26

Online non-food sales, yoy % Store non-food sales, yoy % Online non-food sales, yoy % UK non-food online penetration (RHS) Non-food sales, yoy % 100% 80%

60% 10% 60% 50% 5% 40% 40% 0% 20% 30% 0% -5% 20% -20% 10% Aug-24 -10% -40% 0% % Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24 Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 Apr-25 May-25 Jun-25 Jul-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Oct-25 Nov-25 Dec-25 Jan-26 Feb-26 Mar-26 Apr-26 May-26 Jun-26

Source: BRC, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Source: BRC, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research