ONS blames 7.4% decline in petrol sales on ‘beast from the east’, which dragged down sectorRetail sales fell steeply in March owing to a slump in petrol sales when the “beast from the east” hit Britain. Volume of sales fell 1.2% in March from February, with petrol sales down 7.4%, the Office for National Statistics said. Rhian Murphy, ONS senior statistician, said: “Retail sales fell in the first quarter due to a large decline in March with petrol sales seeing a significant slump as a result of the poor weather keeping many shoppers indoors. However, the snow actually helped boost online spending with department stores in particular seeing growth in their web sales. Within food stores, supermarket sales fell while specialist food stores such as butchers, bakers, fishmongers and convenience stores posted strong growth as they were easier to get to during the snow.

Source: The Guardian April 19, 2018 09:35 UTC