UK retail sales fall unexpectedly as consumers cut back

Yahoo ^ | January 20, 2023 | Pedro Goncalves

[fluorescence]

Retail sales in the UK unexpectedly fell by 1% in December, the second month of decline, as cost-conscious shoppers curbed spending over Christmas.

The drop in sales last month was driven by non food sales as "consumers cut back on spending because of increased prices and affordability concerns," according to the according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"After last month's boost as shoppers stocked up early, food sales fell back again in December with supermarkets reporting this was due to increase food prices and the rising cost of living," said Heather Bovill, deputy director for surveys and economic indicators at the ONS.

There was a sharp drop at non-food stores, but food stores also reported a fall in sales. Spending in non-food shops dropped by 2.1% during the month.

Sales in food stores proved more resilient, with just a 0.3% drop in December. Grocery sales had risen 1% in November, leading some to speculate buyers were stocking up early for Christmas.

Online sales also fell between November and December. The proportion of online sales dipped to 25.4% from 25.9% in the previous month.

The 1% drop was far worse than the 0.5% rise that experts had been expecting, according to a consensus from Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Compared with December 2021, sales were down 5.8% – the biggest fall since 1997.

"The month-to-month fall pushed retail sales volumes 2.5% below their average level in 2019, the largest shortfall since February 2021, when the UK economy still was in lockdown."

[BobL]

“Retail sales in the UK unexpectedly fell by 1% in December, the second month of decline, as cost-conscious shoppers curbed spending over Christmas.”

They can thank Boris and his Neocon War in Ukraine. Even though the UK didn’t much Russian energy, they’re getting walloped by soaring energy prices, anyway...so something has to give and that has to be discretionary spending. Expect more of this, as fuel and power bills show up at more households (they only bill on 3 month cycles, so the really bad increases haven’t yet been felt).

The question is whether the Brits will come to these senses and figure this out, or instead watch their country descend towards Third World status.

[ronnie raygun]

Third world status seems to be the globalists agenda after they steal your money to make their utopian dream come true

[oldasrocks]

“Unexpected”? People are just barely able to buy energy and food. Nothing left to spend.