Key Takeaways

• Headline beat: UK retail sales jumped 0.7% month-on-month in March, dramatically outperforming the 0.1% gain analysts had forecast.
• Annual strength: Year-on-year retail sales climbed 1.7%, comfortably above the 1.3% expected by the market.
• Excluding fuel: Monthly sales excluding fuel edged up 0.2%, topping predictions of no change from the previous month.
• Mixed yearly picture: Annual sales excluding fuel also rose 1.7%, though this fell short of the 2.0% growth analysts had anticipated.

British consumers showed surprising resilience in March, with retail sales climbing 0.7% compared to the previous month and significantly outpacing market forecasts of a modest 0.1% increase, according to official figures released on Friday.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales expanded by 1.7%, exceeding analyst projections of 1.3% growth and pointing to sturdier consumer spending than many economists had anticipated.

When stripping out fuel purchases, retail sales still managed a monthly gain of 0.2% in March — a slight improvement on the flat reading that had been expected. However, the yearly comparison for sales excluding fuel came in at 1.7%, undershooting the 2.0% forecast and suggesting that the broader spending picture remains somewhat uneven.