Retailers suffered their slowest December growth in six years as Black Friday spending disrupted the “timing and rhythm” of Christmas sales.
Like-for-like sales fell 0.4% in the month and were just 1% higher on a total basis when including changes in store space, according to the latest sales monitor produced by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said the Black Friday shopping spree pulled festive sales into November and created a challenging lull in spending as consumers waited for future bargains.
However, he said the launch of Boxing Day sales and new season full-price stock helped rescue the situation, particularly for fashion retailers.
The BRC said the 1% total sales rise compared with an improvement of 1.8% a year earlier, marking the slowest December growth since 2008.
However, the total sales figure grew 2.6%, the same as in December 2013, when adjusted for price deflation.
Retailers including John Lewis, Next, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have reported strong or better-than-expected trading figures for the festive period, but Marks & Spencer’s figures were hit by teething problems at a new warehouse.
Ikea yesterday reported a jump in UK sales over the Christmas period after it spent £27 million cutting prices. Like-for-like sales rose 11.1% in the 16 weeks to the end of December.
It said the UK business was on track for its fourth consecutive year of growth as store sales grew by 8.8% and online revenues leapt 33.5%.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson said retailers had cut prices just enough to encourage customers through the doors.