Strong Christmas week fails to lift high street sales much in December

A boost in the Christmas week, helped by deep and widespread discounting, has led to an increase in sales at UK high streets, but failed to provide the final month of the year retailer had hoped for.

The High Street Sales Tracker by the accountancy and business advisory firm BDO reveals that the in-store like for like (LFL) sales have risen by only a marginal 0.7 percent, despite the poor base in December last year.

The month has seen particularly positive LFL sales in the first and last week, with in-store sales going up by 8.59 percent in the final week.

Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, warned that the extreme discounting seen this year may affect the January sales.

“January tends to be a positive month as people are more inclined to spend in the sales, however it’ll be interesting this year to see if many have already done their bargain-hunting in December. This month’s figures potentially paint a bleak picture for the first month of 2020 on the high street,” she said.