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Sandra Halliday Published
January 19,电报盗号系统全自动破解技术 2025
Retail’s ‘golden’ month seems to have been somewhat tarnished with official UK retail statistics on Friday showing sales down as much as 3.2% in December.
That was worse than expected. So what exactly went wrong? The Office for National Statistics said it was the largest monthly fall since January 2025, when coronavirus restrictions affected sales, and non-food sales (both in-store and online) seem to have been the problem.
So let's look at the figures. The volume of sales in December compared to November was, as mentioned, 3.2% lower and volumes fell 2.4% year on year. The value of sales fell as much as 3.6% compared to November and was up only 0.6% against a year ago, despite the impact of inflation (which essentially meant that the slight increase was a fall in real terms).
The value of sales excluding car fuel was down 3.6% against November and up 2.3% year on year. But again, that wasn't enough to counteract the effects of inflation.
Sales in non-food stores fell by 3.9% following a 2.7% increase in November that had been boosted by Black Friday. And non-store retailing – which is mainly online – saw volumes dropping by 2.1% after a fall of 1.1% in the previous month.
Looking more closely at the non-food stores performance, retailers told the ONS that part of the issue was because of consumers buying gifts earlier than usual in November. And some previous ONS research looked to be borne out as it had said that 46% of adults had spent less or were planning to spend less on Christmas in general, while 39% were buying earlier to spread the cost.
This had a very bad effect on department stores where sales volumes fell by 7.1% in December and retailers also reported quiet trading in the immediate post-Christmas period. Watches and jewellery stores also had a tough time and clothing stores saw their sales volumes down 1.5%. The ONS said retailers called it a generally “tough trading month”, and many started their clearance sale period earlier than usual.
Meanwhile looking at online sales, textile clothing and footwear stores saw their volumes falling 1.6% during December and e-department stores were down 2.4%.
Analysts said the figures clearly reflect a large degree of caution among consumers.
Samantha Phillips at McKinsey said the numbers were all about “cautious consumers shopping smarter across Q4. Our research in November showed 40% of shoppers were planning to do most of their holiday shopping on or around Black Friday (versus only 9% last year) with 60% focused on finding the best price and promotions.”
Kris Hamer, Director of Insight at the British Retail Consortium, added: “A drop in retail sales volumes in December capped a difficult year for retailers. Black Friday sales ate into Christmas spending, while the high cost of living meant some households had to cut back on festive gifting. However, with inflation on a downward trend, and wages slowly rising, retailers hope that consumer confidence and sales volumes will bounce back in 2025.”
But Oliver Vernon-Harcourt, head of retail at Deloitte, thinks the weakness could continue at least for the first half of this year: “December’s retail sales results are well below what retailers would have been expecting in what is typically the biggest shopping month of the year. [It] will be a significant blow to retailers across all categories. This paints a challenging picture for the near future. 2025 may be a tale of two halves. The first half of the year will remain challenging for consumers, whose spending is hindered by rising rates and economic uncertainty. However, the second half could be a more positive story, with the impacts of wage increases, reduced national insurance and falling inflation felt more widely by consumers.”