RETAIL sales volumes in Great Britain fell sharply in the key festive trading month of December and were down over the fourth quarter as a whole, official figures reveal, fuelling fears over the UK economy’s health.
The Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday that retail sales volumes fell by a greater-than-forecast 0.9 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month – the steepest fall since May 2017. Excluding fuel, sales volumes dropped 1.3% month-on-month.
Retail sales volumes had jumped by 1.3% month-on-month in November.
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The ONS noted: “Consumer behaviour for aspects of Christmas shopping has shifted in recent years from being mainly in December to more in November, as consumers seem to be starting their purchasing earlier in line with Black Friday promotions.”
However, comparing the fourth quarter with the preceding three months, retail sales volumes were down by 0.2%. This was the first three-month-on-three-month fall in sales volumes since March last year.
Non-food sales volumes tumbled 2.3% month-on-month in December. Food sales volumes edged up 0.2%.
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Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club think-tank, said: “Consumers were clearly cautious in their spending over the Christmas period, which ties in with the GfK consumer confidence index falling back in December to its lowest level since mid-2013. While there has recently been some pick-up in consumers’ purchasing power, it is still far from buoyant with the savings ratio recently down at record-low levels.”
He warned Brexit could cause cautious consumers to further limit spending.
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