New figures: a very merry online Christmas
UK retail sales edged up 0.1% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis in December. On a total basis, sales were up 1%.
According to the figures released by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG in their monthly shop price index, the total growth was above the three month average of 0.9% but weaker than the 12 month average of 1.7%.
Total food sales edged up 0.2% over the three months to December while total non-food sales increased by 1.5%, the weakest growth since January 2013.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: “Despite a number of positive economic indicators, retail sales over Christmas were relatively flat with more products on discount and the depth of discounting also deeper.
“Although retailers tried to tame Black Friday 2015, it still had a significant impact on the shape of sales over the festive season, spreading spend over six weeks rather than two. Fashion sales were the losers in December as mild weather deferred the need and wet weather deferred the inclination to try and buy a new winter outfit.
“The grocers had a fairly admirable Christmas with total food and drink sales back in the black for the first time since September in spite of the persistent price deflation in the sector.”
Online sales of non-food products in the UK grew by 15.1% in December versus a year earlier, when they had grown 7%. The non-food online penetration rate was 19.7%, up 2.4 percentage points from December 2014.
Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, said: “This was very much an online Christmas with this channel playing a vital role in driving retail sales in December.
“The proportion of online spend was up across all categories we measure with household appliances, footwear and furniture leading the way. Over the three months to December, online contributed 2.5 percentage points to UK non-food growth overall, confirming this channel as the key driver of growth. In fact, store sales were in reverse.
“Click & Collect continued to be instrumental, providing convenience for consumers and equipping smaller format stores with extended product ranges during the busy Christmas period. There were also some knock-on benefits, such as encouraging greater footfall into stores in turn inspiring impulse buys.”
