UK High Street sees slight increase in December sales
UK shops saw a marginal increase in December sales year-on-year driven by widespread discounting, a new survey revealed on Saturday.
Sales in British shops were up 0.7 per cent for the month compared with 2018, according to the accountancy and business advisory firm BDO’s monthly High Street Sales Tracker.
Read more: Next raises forecast after Christmas sales beat expectations
It said the weak growth was despite an additional day of shopping at the beginning of Christmas week.
“Black Friday (Nov. 29) never quite ended and instead saw sales continue throughout the month,” said Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO.
“January tends to be a positive month as people are more inclined to spend in the sales, however it’ll be interesting this year to see if many have already done their bargain-hunting in December,” she said.
Online sales for December were up 24.5 per cent year-on-year, heavily boosted by Cyber Monday falling six days later than 2018.
It was the best monthly performance since December 2013.
The survey made no mention of the impact of the general election result on 12 December.
Read more: Boxing Day shopping slump as retailers suffer sharp decline in footfall
A host of British retailers are set to provide a Christmas trading update next week, including Tesco, Sainbury’s, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer’s.
Next released its report on Friday, which highlighted better-than-expected sales and also saw the retailer raise its full-year profit guidance.