December Retail Sales: Why Your Wallet Must Be Ready for a “mischief” holiday
When the Office for National Statistics (ONS) rolled out December’s retail data, the numbers were not exactly a gift to retailers. The sales volume – that is, the sheer amount of items swapped hands – slipped by 0.3 % over the whole holiday period (24 Nov – 28 Dec 2024), even compared to the rather lacksluster November.
Black Friday Blessing or Bane?
Parcelhero, the delivery guru, says that the December snapshot includes Black Friday footprints, unlike the previous year. David Jinks, their Head of Consumer Research, summed it up: “Food shops, ranging from supermarkets to artisanal butchers, saw the biggest dip – sales dropped 1.3 % and hit a low since 2013.”
- Food‑store sales volumes: down 1.3 %
- Lowest index level for food retailers since April 2013
Yet amid the gloom, some bright corners emerged. Clothing store orders leapt by 4.4 % as people turned into fashion typhoons, buying snazzy gifts and dressing to impress for holiday parties. Department stores also got a lift, with sales volumes climbing 1.2 %. When you look at year‑on‑year numbers, a bit of optimism creeps in: sales volumes were up 3.6 % compared to a disastrous December‑2023.
Online Shopping Gets a Red‑Hot Boost
Online “spending values” – that is, the money actually poured into e‑commerce – jumped by 1.5 %, the first monthly rise since September. That equates to a 7.2 % surge in clothing and footwear sales online, plus a modest 0.8 % uptick for department stores.
- Online sales values up 1.5 % (Dec vs. Nov)
- Clothing & footwear online sales +7.2 %
- Department store online sales +0.8 %
It’s a bit like a funhouse mirror: you see the numbers and the raw reality may look a product difference. When discarding the seasonal tweak for Black Friday, sales volumes were actually 10 % higher than November. And the best coda? Total spend (store + online) nudged up by a pale 0.1 %.
E‑Commerce Wins the Holiday Race
The proportion of sales happening online climbed from 26.5 % in November to 27 % in December – a clear sign that shoppers are placing more depth into their digital wallets. Online sales values credited retailers with an additional 1.7 % rise compared to December‑2023.
- Online sales share: 27 % (Dec) vs. 26.5 % (Nov)
- Online sales values up 1.7 % (Dec vs. Dec 2023)
Bottom line: Christmas sales remain a wild card, but the safest bet for retailers is a hybrid model – stack the high street shelves while keeping the online boutique alive. «2030: Death of the High Street,» a Parcelhero report, is déjà vu in Parliament but the data says the high street is far from dead yet.
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