Beauty sales see uptick despite 'disappointing' April for retail sector

Health and beauty sales saw a small uptick in April, despite an overall "disappointing April" for the retail sector, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.

Over March and April - to cancel out any distortion from this year’s earlier Easter - total retail sales increased by 1.5% year on year, although this still remains below the 12-month average growth of 1.8%.

The figures were driven both by low consumer confidence, with fears that the Middle East conflict would drive up living costs leading shoppers to rein in spending, and a shift in the timing of Easter, which resulted in an artificially higher March but lower April.

On its own, April retail sales decreased by 3% year on year, against growth of 7% in the same period in 2025.

Non-food sales decreased by 3.3% year-on-year in April, against growth of 6.1% in April 2025, again putting it below the 12-month average growth of 0.3%.

Breaking this down further, fashion and footwear saw a decline in their contribution to overall sales growth in April, while beauty and health saw a small uptick. (The BRC is not able to provide any more specific figures for each category.)

In-store non-food sales decreased by 4% year on year in April, against growth of 5.6% in April 2025, still below the 12-month average growth of 0.4%.

Online, non-food sales also decreased by 2.3% year-on-year in April, against growth of 7% in April 2025.

The BRC's online growth rankings, which show how the top ten retail categories performed relative to one another in April, noted a bright spot for beauty and health, with the category rising to first place, up from fifth in March. Clothing also climbed, moving from ninth place in March to fifth in April. Other categories, including footwear, however, slipped down the rankings.

Linda Ellett, UK Head of Consumer, Retail & Leisure at KPMG, said: "It was a disappointing April for the retail sector, even factoring in an earlier Easter shifting some spending into March. Bar marginal growth in beauty, health and jewellery, retail sales fell across all other categories.

"Consumer confidence has been further dampened by rising prices due to the Iran conflict, with consumers cautious about potential ongoing effects. As a result, the retail sector is facing a challenging start to spring/summer, but there is hope that holiday demand and the World Cup may still unlock spending in the weeks and months ahead."

Last week, the BRC had noted that total footfall across the UK was down 3.9% on the same period last year, again citing low consumer confidence due to the Middle East conflict.

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at the British Retail Consortium, said: "Global events might be out of government’s hands, but costs imposed at home are not. Ministers must act now to curb the impact on consumers from soaring costs." She outlined that these included cutting non-commodity energy charges and scrapping the triple tax on packaging.

This follows the BRC's warning to the government last week that retailers are absorbing significant additional costs from the Middle East conflict, on top of additional pressures directly influenced by the government and regulators.