RETAIL sales volumes fell last month in the worst performance for the sector in almost three years.
There was a 3.2 per cent dip in December, down from a rise of 1.4 per cent the month before, ONS figures revealed.
The performance was the poorest since January 2021, when the country was still under Covid-19 restrictions
But the stats may not be as bad as they look, as it was partly because people got their Christmas shopping in early to take advantage of Black Friday.
That was considered key to the rise that month, followed by last month’s dip.
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The ONS’s Heather Bovill said: “Food stores performed very poorly, with their steepest fall since May 2021 as early Christmas shopping led to slow December sales.”
Department stores saw sales drop by 7.1 per cent, while the value of retail items bought also went down by 3.6 per cent.
But there was some festive cheer as wine seller Majestic recorded record sales in the run-up to Christmas.
Danni Hewson, of AJ Bell, said: “The big question is did people spend their money elsewhere or not all?
“The answer to that is likely to be the deciding factor in whether or not the UK has fallen into a technical recession.”
Sofas slump
SOFA seller DFS Furniture has said it has coped with a drop in demand by cutting costs.
Sales fell nine per cent in 2023. It blamed record hot weather in September and early October.
Boss Tim Stacey said: “We remain on track to deliver our full-year profit target.”
Deliver-woo
DELIVEROO said stronger demand among squeezed consumers has led to an improvement in sales.
Customers’ food and delivery fees climbed seven per cent to £1.1billion in the last three months of the year.
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Orders edged up one per cent to 40.9 million. The app launched a non-food section in November.
