The UK\u2019s retail sector recorded the sharpest fall in sales for more than four and a half years, official figures have revealed.<\/p>\n
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said sales in December dropped 1.9 per cent compared to the month previous, while the greatest falls were recorded in non-food stores.<\/p>\n
Experts had previously predicted the dip to come in at much closer to 0.1 per cent.<\/p>\n
Analysts at Lloyds blamed weeks of sales in November, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, making it \u201ceven harder to keep shoppers spending during December\u201d.<\/p>\n
Alan Clark, of Scotiabank, said retailers have had a \u201cdisastrous December\u201d. He pointed to inflation figures released earlier this week impacting on retailers\u2019 ability to keep prices down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is likely to be the theme for the rest of the year – higher prices will reduce disposable income and hurt consumer spending growth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The figures seem to indicate that some sectors performed significantly better than others. Kate Davies, ONS senior statistician, said small retailers, in particular butchers, reported a significant boost in sales in the run-up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
Likewise, digital retailers boasted revenue which was 21.3 per cent higher than in December 2015.<\/p>\n
However, retailers which performed poorly during the festive season shouldn\u2019t necessarily expect a poor January, said Keith Richardson, managing director of retail at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumer spending held up – against expectations – after the EU referendum and it may do so again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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