Wet weather hit February retail sales, but Valentine's Day offered 'bright spot'

Wet weather in February hit retail sales hard, with non-food sales decreasing by 0.4% year-on-year in February, according to research by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Yet Valentine's Day offered a bright spot, with some categories performing better.

This positions non-food retail sales below the 12-month average growth of 1%. In-store non-food sales decreased by 0.2% year-on-year in February, which compares positively to the previous year, when there was a decline of 1%. Online non-food sales failed to offset weaker in-store performance, with sales decreasing by 1.3% year-on-year in February, against growth of 1.9% in February 2025.

Helen Dickinson, CEO at the British Retail Consortium, said: "February’s grey, wet weather hit retail sales hard. Spending was weak across most categories, online and in-store, as households pulled back after Christmas and January’s rebound.

"Valentine’s Day did provide a bright spot, with jewellery, watches and perfume performing better as people still treated loved ones."

Linda Ellett, UK Head of Consumer, Retail & Leisure at KPMG, added: "Health and wellbeing related purchases helped to drive modest monthly retail sales growth in February. But minus food and drink sales, the momentum wasn’t strong enough to keep growth going for total non-food goods."

The BRC retail survey, which spans about 60% of total UK retail by value, and includes grocers, paints a different picture to previous reports of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO's high‑street‑focused tracker, which looks at non-essential purchases and often mid‑market chains.

BDO reported at the end of February that Valentine's Day failed to deliver any boost in spending, with the lifestyle sector (which includes health, beauty and gifting products) performing particularly poorly, with total sales shrinking by 0.2% and in-store sales dropping by 1.7%.

Commenting on the latest BRC data, Dickinson added: "While retailers look to spring and better weather to lift spirits and revive sales, conflict in the Middle East threatens to knock any recovery off course. Prolonged low consumer confidence adds strain on retailers already facing mounting cost pressures, higher taxes and a growing regulatory burden."

The BRC previously reported that in February, consumer confidence in the state of the economy had improved to its highest level since June 2025, rising from -32 in January to -30. While the score improved slightly, it still shows that households are still broadly pessimistic, with Dickinson adding that while encouraging, the lift in confidence was fragile.

Dickinson added: "At such a time, government's top priority should be to avoid piling on further cost and complexity and to think carefully about the real world impacts of aspects of the Employment Rights Act. Without realism and restraint, retailers will struggle to invest in the jobs the economy needs and prices households can afford."

The BRC previously reported that inflation eased in February due to fierce competition between retailers, which kept prices in check.