With the persistent uncertainty of Brexit weighing on consumers’ minds, consumer confidence continues its downward trend in Q3 2019.

The Deloitte index shows that consumer confidence fell by 9% in Q3 2019, one point lower than in the previous quarter and two points lower compared to the same period a year ago. However, compared to a year ago, confidence levels in personal finances have improved resulting in increased spending in the discretionary categories, in particular in categories relating to the leisure sector.

While official data shows that the retail sector overall continues to grow, more retailers are going into administration and big department store sales are slowing, structural challenges around cost and competition continue, and there is a clear divergence of performance across retail categories and business models especially online.

Highlights this quarter:
> Online retailers continue to report strong growth, outperforming the high street. Online spending now accounts for 19.1% of all retail spending.
> Online grocery is also growing as, according to Deloitte's research, 20% of consumers do some of their main grocery shopping online on an average month, a 5% year-on-year increase.
> Overall retail sales saw a modest rise in Q3 2019 compared to a year ago as UK consumers bought 0.6% more in Q3 2019 compared to Q2 2019 and 3.1% more than a year ago.

(source: Deloitte, image: Sainsbury's)