Retail sales fall unexpectedly in November despite Black Friday deals
Retail sales dipped unexpectedly last month as cautious shoppers prevailed and Black Friday discounts failed to boost spending in the run-up to Christmas, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the total volume of retail sales is estimated to have fallen by 0.1 per cent in November. This follows a 0.9 per cent drop in October, and was a surprise decline as most analysts had been expecting a 0.4 per cent increase for the month.
Supermarket sales fell for the fourth month in a row, by 0.5 per cent in November, with retailers reporting a lower number of shoppers coming to stores.
The ONS also said the effect of Black Friday – with discounts typically stretching well beyond the specific end-of-November date – appeared to be slightly weaker this year than usual.
ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “This year November’s Black Friday discounts did not boost sales as much as in some recent years, meaning that once we adjust for usual seasonality, our headline figures fell a little on the month.
“Meanwhile, our separate household survey showed that although some people said they were planning to do more shopping this Black Friday than last, almost twice as many said they were planning to do less.”
It was a disappointing month for non-store retailers – which primarily includes online shops but also sellers like street stalls and markets – with sales dropping by 2.9 per cent.
But data showed that department stores’ sales volumes jumped by 2.3 per cent in November.
Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, said: “Retailers have been clear that the date of this year’s Budget was unhelpful, unnerving consumers at the very peak of the festive shopping period. The latest data suggests that shoppers were impacted by all the speculation about potential tax hikes and continued to display an abundance of caution despite Black Friday temptations.”