YEAR-on-year growth in the value of UK retail sales accelerated in November, with the Black Friday shopping frenzy providing a late boost, a survey has shown.
The survey, published today by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), shows that the value of UK retail sales last month was up by 2.2 per cent on November 2013. This was an improvement on the year-on-year growth rate of 1.4 per cent in October.
David McCorquodale, Edinburgh-based head of accountancy firm and BRC survey sponsor KPMG's UK retail sector practice, highlighted the fact that consumers had been in cautious mood for most of November, before the rush generated by heavy discounting on the final Friday of the month.
He said: "Consumers were reluctant to spend too much, too soon until a record-breaking Black Friday helped to kick-start festive spending. Fashion and footwear retailers used this occasion to recover some lost ground but at a cost to their margin. Sales of electrical goods were strong all month and positively rocketed with Black Friday offers."
Highlighting a need for some in the sector to improve their online shopping technology, he added: "Sadly some retailers fell short of the mark, with websites crashing under the pressure of shoppers hunting for a bargain. Resolving these issues must be a priority: consumers go online to avoid queues, not join them."
The BRC noted a slowing of the year-on-year rate of decline in the value of sales in the hard-pressed food retailing sector. In the three months to November, the value of food sales was down by 1.2 per cent on the same period of last year. This was a slightly less steep fall than the 1.4 per cent year-on-year drop in food sales value in the August to October period.
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