According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in UK retail sales values decreased by 1.2 percent in December 2022 after increasing by 0.5 percent in November 2022.
Compared with the pre-COVID-19 level in February 2020, total retail sales were 13.6 percent higher in value terms, but volumes were 1.7 percent lower.
And in the same period a year earlier, retail sales volumes fell by 5.7 percent in the three months to December 2022, while sales values rose by 4.5 percent. Sales volumes fell by 1.0 percent in December 2022, continuing a broad downward trend that has been seen since the lifting of hospitality restrictions in summer 2021, according to ONS.
Department stores sales volumes fell by 3.1 percent in December 2022, from a rise of 2.1 percent in November.
Though retailers reported that longer Black Friday sales contributed to the November increase by 1.0 percent in December 2022.
Online spending values fell by 2.9 percent in December 2022, because of monthly falls across most industries. The proportion of online sales fell to 25.4 percent in December 2022 from 25.9 percent in November.
Additionally, non-store retail fell by 11.5 percent as the wider economy reopened and consumers returned to shopping in stores.
