The Office for National Statistics says the quantity of goods bought in December fell by 0.9% compared to November. -Guardian
British consumers reined in their spending in December after splashing out during November on Black Friday promotions, according to official figures that confirmed the tough festive shopping period on the high street.
The Office for National Statistics said the quantity of goods bought last month fell by 0.9% compared to November, when Black Friday deals encouraged shoppers to bring forward some of their Christmas spending.
All sectors except food and petrol declined on the month, the figures showed, coming after the British Retail Consortium said the key Christmas shopping period had been the worst for retailers since the financial crisis a decade ago.
James Smith, an economist at the City bank ING, said: "After another bumpy week for Brexit, today's UK retail sales data is a timely reminder that all is not particularly well in the UK economy."
Figures for the three months to December, highlighting the wider trend for consumer spending, showed that the quantity of goods bought dropped by 0.2%. Supermarkets such as Sainsbury's and Morrisons have reported disappointing sales over the Christmas period, although Tesco beat expectations, while Next reported a late surge in demand.
Despite the downturn last month, the latest snapshot showed that retail sales growth for 2018 as a whole was above the level recorded a year earlier. Although significantly below the peak growth rate of 4.7% seen before the Brexit vote in 2016, sales grew by 2.7% last year, compared with a growth rate of 2% in 2017.
Since Black Friday crossed the Atlantic, after Asda helped introduce the US shopping event to Britain in 2013, consumers have increasingly brought forward their Christmas spending from December to November. The ONS said 2014 was the last year in which December outstripped November, with 2018 displaying the biggest shift since.
Richard Lim, the chief executive of the Retail Economics consultancy, said: "Black Friday has fundamentally shifted the distribution of sales in the run-up to Christmas.
"These figures confirm that Christmas was an extremely challenging period for the retail industry. Consumer confidence was driven down in the crucial final months of the year by worries over Brexit, lack of savings and debt levels."
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