Sales are up. Are you actually selling more?

UK retail sales rose by 1.3% year on year in July, according to the latest British Retail Consortium and KPMG monitor. That was slower than the 2.5% growth recorded a year earlier and below the 12-month average of 1.8%. Food sales grew by 3.8%, while shoppers favoured smaller treats and held back on some big-ticket purchases.

The figures measure money through the till. They can rise because a business served more customers, sold more items, charged higher prices or changed its product mix. Each route creates a different result for cash flow and profit.

Take a business that recorded 100 orders at an average of £40 last July. Revenue was £4,000. This July it records 92 orders at an average of £45, producing £4,140. Revenue has risen by 3.5%, while eight fewer customers completed a purchase.

Margin can reverse the picture again. At a gross margin of 55%, last year's £4,000 produced £2,200 before overheads. If discounting, supplier costs or a different sales mix reduced margin to 50%, this year's higher revenue would produce £2,070. The till looks busier in pounds and the business has £130 less gross profit.

This summer also rewarded different businesses in different ways. Barclays recorded 10% more pub transactions during July and a 2.6% rise in spending on UK accommodation. The British Retail Consortium said shoppers leaned towards smaller indulgences, while heat pushed some retail demand online. A national average cannot show whether your customers behaved the same way.

Your payment data provides the quickest starting point. Compare successful payment count, total value, average payment and the split between online, in-person and invoice sales. Add units sold and gross margin from your commerce or accounting system. Together, those measures show whether growth came from reach, price, product mix or promotion.

Look at like-for-like periods. Match the same weekdays where possible and mark unusual events, weather, closures or campaigns. A World Cup match, festival weekend or heatwave can create a valuable spike. It can also make a weak month look healthy when the rest of the trading period is overlooked.

The useful response to better national news is a sharper view of your own business. If transactions and margin are rising together, you have evidence to support stock, staffing or marketing decisions. If revenue is growing while customer count or margin slips, the next job is to find where the value is leaking.