UK retail sales fall in November, miss expectations

UK retail sales unexpectedly fell last month, according to data released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics.

Sales declined by 0.4% in November following a 0.9% increase in October, missing expectations for a 0.3% jump. Sales in October had bounced back from the impact of the additional Bank Holiday in September for the Queen’s funeral.

Excluding fuel, retail sales were down 0.3% on the month in November.

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said that sales during Black Friday had failed "to provide their usual lift in this sector".

"However, department stores and households good shops did report increased sales, with these retailers telling us a longer period of Black Friday discounting helped boost sales," he said.

"Food and alcohol sales were also up, with consumers stocking up early to try to spread the cost of Christmas festivities."

The figures showed that online sales fell 2.8% in November, continuing a downward trend seen since early 2021, as the wider economy reopened and people were able to shop in stores again. Still, they are 18.2% higher than their pre-Covid February 2020 levels.

Gabriella Dickens, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The drop in retail sales in November suggests that consumers are buckling under the pressure of surging CPI inflation, despite additional government support for their energy bills. True, the fall in November only partly offset the 0.9% rise in October. But that rise largely reflected a reversal of the impact of the additional Bank Holiday in September for the State Funeral.

"Taking a step back from the volatility, retail sales still are 1.5% below their 2019 average level, compared to 3% above at the turn of the year. The breakdown, meanwhile, showed that the drop was driven by a 2.8% fall in non-store retailing, while non-food store sales declined by 0.6%, driven by a sharp decline in spending in second-hand and computer stores. There were some signs that budget-conscious consumers shifting some of their Christmas shopping into November; food store sales rose for the first time since June, by 0.9%, with some retailers suggesting consumers ere stocking up early for Christmas."