Retail sales in the run-up to Christmas are making headlines this morning, with a number of number of news outlets reporting on new figures from the BRC.
UK retail sales spending growth was “minimal” and below the rate of inflation in the final three months of 2024, suggesting consumers remained cautious in what is typically the busiest period of the year for shops, reports The Financial Times.
The new figures show the high street suffered a disappointing Christmas, according to The Telegraph, which it says is “adding to retailers’ misery after Rachel Reeves’s record tax raid”. Retail sales rose by just 0.4% over the so-called “golden quarter” in the three months to December, according to the BRC figures.
Separate figures from Barclays show zero growth in consumer card spending in December, as households cut back on essential items and pub and restaurant meals in favour of spending on experiences, notes The Guardian, while Britain’s largest retailers are warning they could be forced to cut thousands of jobs this year.
Retailers have been dealt another blow after cash-strapped shoppers held back from a Christmas spending splurge, writes The Times. Despite high hopes for a bumper festive trading season, new figures show the crucial peak period for retailers struggled to deliver a strong finish for 2024.
Sky News says it means shop prices will rise in 2025, as the key Christmas trading period failed to meet retailers’ expectations.
Shoppers spent more in December compared with the year before but it wasn’t enough to make up for an overall lacklustre year for retailers, says The BBC.
Meanwhile Aldi has reported its “best Christmas ever”, with sales of more than £1.6bn in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, writes The Guardian, covering the discounter’s festive trading update of Monday.
Aldi has joined its rival German discounter Lidl in celebrating its best ever Christmas sales performance in the UK, driven by strong demand for its premium own-label products, says The Times.
Sales at the German-owned group, Britain’s fourth biggest supermarket, rose 3.4% in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, says The Standard.
Premium own-label products and seasonal items helped to push the German discount supermarket chain’s sales up 3.4%, but analysts noted that Aldi increased store space by between 3% and 4% during the year, meaning each individual shop did not necessarily sell more, writes The Mail.
Read The Grocer’s story on Aldi’s Christmas trading update here and our verdict on how impressive the performance is here.
UK food inflation could near 4% by the end of 2025 as supermarkets react to cost pressures arising from Labour’s Autumn Budget, reports The Mail, citing forecasts from Peel Hunt.
Companies cut jobs at the fastest pace in four years last month after the budget increased the cost of employing staff and hit confidence, writes The Times, citing figures from the S&P Global final composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for December.
Sky News, The Mail and The Standard also cover the S&P Global survey results.
The Guardian takes a look at sugary drinks, saying they are responsible for more than 2.2 million new cases of diabetes and 1.1 million new cases of heart disease a year around the world, according to a new study. Global analysis published in Nature Medicine on Monday highlighted growing health inequalities, with sugary drinks contributing to almost a quarter of new diabetes cases in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020.
Health warnings on alcohol due in Ireland from next year are an alert to investors too, says The Financial Times Lex column.
Finally, high street retailers are unlikely to be buoyed by an opinion column in The Guardian by Nell Frizzell, who says shopping with other people is “hell”, and prefers online.
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