Retail sales fall 1% in December, says ONS, as Black Friday impacts sales

Despite the amount spent in retail falling, volumes continued to rise, up 2.6% year on year. However, volumes were down 1% on November. Black Friday fell in November, however December’s figures include Cyber Monday.

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking managing director for retail Keith Richardson said: “Even after a year in which the underlying picture for consumers was brighter than it has been for years, Britain’s post-recession savvy shoppers were in no mood to spend more on Christmas if they didn’t need to.”

“The exceptionally mild and wet weather not only hit fashion retailers who have been unable to shift their winter ranges, but also kept shoppers away from the high street, forcing even more of them to do their shopping online at home.”

Online sales values jumped 8.2% year-on-year in December but were down 5.2% on November, where Black Friday fell.

Richardson added: “Black Friday once again failed to create any significant additional spend, and appears to simply bring shoppers’ Christmas shopping forward, spreading it out over a longer period and diluting December’s sales.”

Meanwhile average store prices, which include petrol stations, dropped 3.2% year on year in December, the 18^th consecutive month of annual price falls.

Over 2015, sales volumes increased 4.5% compared to 2014.