Worst year on record for retail

Facts and figures about Black Friday and the Christmas sale 2019

Source: PantherMedia/EdZbarzhyvetsky

The December figures are positively distorted by the late timing of Black Friday, which occurred in December 2019 as opposed to November in 2018. The 3-month and 12-month averages are not distorted.
 

• Total sales for 2019 decreased by 0.1 percent, compared with 1.2 percent growth in 2018. This is the worst year on record.
• On a Total basis, sales increased by 1.9 percent in December, against a flat 0.0 percent in December 2018. The 3m and 12m average were -0.4 percent and -0.1 percent respectively.
• Taking November and December together to iron out the Black Friday distortions, Total sales declined 0.9 percent compared with the same period in 2018.
• UK retail sales increased by 1.7 percent on a Like-for-like basis from December 2018, when they had decreased 0.7 percent from the preceding year. The 3m and 12m averages were -0.9 percent and 0.5 percent respectively
• Taking November and December together to iron out the Black Friday distortions, Like-for-Like sales declined 1.2 percent compared with the same period in 2018.
• Over the three months to December, In-store sales of Non-Food items declined 3.5% on a Total and 3.8 percent on a Like-for-like basis. This is worse than the 12-month Total average decline of 3.1 percent.
• Over the three months to December, Food sales were a flat 0.0 percent  on a Like-for-like basis and increased 0.7 percent on a Total basis. This is below the 12-month Total average growth of 1.4 percent.
• Over the three-months to December, Non-Food retail sales in the UK decreased by 1.6 percent  on a like-for-like and 1.4 percent on a Total basis. This is below the 12-month Total average decrease of 1.3 percent. For the month of December, Non-Food was in growth year-on-year but positively distorted by the timing of Black Friday.
• Online Non-Food sales increased by 12.8 percent  in December, against a growth of 5.8 percent in December 2018. 
• Taking November and December together to iron out the Black Friday distortions, Online Non-Food sales increased 2.6 percent, which is lower than the 12m average of 3.3 percent.
• Non-Food Online penetration rate increased from 31.2 percent in December 2018 to 34.5 percent this December. 
• Over the two months of November and December, the Online penetration rate was 34.2 percent for 2019, against 32.4 percent for 2018, a 1.8 percentage points increase.