Two regular monthly reports came out on Tuesday, one showing general consumer spending and the other retail sales specifically. While there was talk of green shoots, you had to look very carefully to find them and the overall picture is that caution remains the watchword for many shoppers.

We’re not exactly in a boom period. Looking first at the Barclays report, the company that processes a huge chunk of UK consumer spending via its payment cards said consumer card spending grew only 0.5% in March, which was lower than the 1% in February and undershot the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.7%.

But importantly, while ‘essential’ spending contracted 2.9%, with consumers making cutbacks in anticipation of rising household bills, confidence in discretionary spending remained resilient, with 58% confident in their ability to spend on non-essential items. Discretionary spend increase 2.2%, which was still below inflation but a step in the right direction.

Interestingly too, the impact of tariffs may not have quite kicked in yet but 71% of UK adults plan to buy more ‘Made in Britain’ products, reflecting sentiment expressed in other countries in Europe and also in Canada in reaction to the US imposing extra import duties.

As far as discretionary spending was concerned, garden centres saw the biggest spike with a 13.4% increase, which was hardly surprising given the sunny weather during March.

But pharmacy, health & beauty also rose strongly with an 11% jump – the category’s greatest increase since April 2022. Clothing spend meanwhile was up a more anaemic 1.1%.

While retail as a whole was down 0.2%, some particular store categories fared worse with department stores falling 3.2% and discount stores 3.1%. 

Meanwhile, the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, which excludes general consumer spending and focuses on retail specifically, reported total retail sales up 1.1%. This was lower than +3.5% a year earlier but March and April are always tricky months to assess given the way the timing of Easter moves around between the two months in successive years.

The monitor showed non-food sales up by 0.6% year on year in March, against a decline of 0.4% in March 2024.

In-store non-food sales fell by 0.1% year on year, against growth of 0.1% in March 2024 while online, they rose 1.8%, beating last year’s 1.4% drop.

BRC CEO Helen Dickinson said: “Despite a challenging global geopolitical landscape, the small increase in both food and non-food sales masked signs of underlying strengthening of demand given March 2025’s comparison with last year’s early Easter. The improving weather made for a particularly strong final week, with gardening and DIY equipment flying off the shelves. Jewellery and beauty products were helped by Mother’s Day, though sales of bigger ticket items like furniture remained weak.”

​UK label Passenger, which described itself as a “responsible outdoor clothing brand with a mission to “inspire meaningful escapism”, has announced it’s temporarily pausing its US growth initiatives.

The move comes in response to US tariffs and sees it instead focusing on its fast-growing EU business.

Passenger grew 76% in 2024 to £57 million net revenue, up from £33 million in 2023. Europe is its fastest-growing region at the moment while the business also has a large customer base in the UK, where it began 13 years ago. 

“Given the success Passenger is seeing in the European market, the brand has shifted resources and rerouted stock that was planned for the US to deliver against strong demand in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK,” it said.

CEO Jon Lane explained: “Passenger has seen rapid direct-to-consumer growth in the US over the last two years, and has a large pipeline of wholesale orders building from retailers such as REI, Scheels, Backcountry, and outdoor specialty stores. However, with US tariffs increasing so rapidly and being so volatile, this has turned the US from a great opportunity to a risky proposition.”

The company has a large number of production partners in Asia and uses recycled fabrics from the region, which means it has seen average duties and tariffs climb to over 50%. So for every $1 million of stock landed in the US, “the Passenger business will be responsible for a further $500,000 in duties and tariffs on day one alone”.

Lane added that while Passenger was “looking forward to scaling in the US, given the opportunity in Europe, where we are seeing triple-digit growth in some countries and a stable business environment, we’re confident that this shift in focus will enable [it] to deliver on its ambitious plans”.

And he said the company has spoken to all its key retail partners in the US “and really appreciate their positive feedback and long-term support. Like many others, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the US over the coming months to see if tariffs are reduced to a sustainable level and if the landscape has become more settled”.