Retailers experienced lacklustre sales for the year 2024, despite shoppers spending more money in December compared to the previous year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) disclosed that the last three months of 2024 only saw a growth of 0.4% higher than the previous year, making it a weak year overall for the retail sector. The BRC highlighted that 2025 would be particularly challenging for retailers due to rising taxes, new packaging levies, and wage costs, which would create a tough business environment for most retailers.
Beauty advent calendars, jewellery, and AI-enabled tech were particularly strong gifts during the Christmas period. The BRC also disclosed that December’s growth of 3.2% was boosted by the Black Friday sales event, which is usually included in November’s figures. Despite this, sales for non-food items over the year fell by 1.5%. Food sales, on the other hand, increased by 3.3%, especially in December, where there was a slight rise from the previous year.
Lidl, the budget supermarket, achieved its most successful Christmas period to date and was predominantly boosted by consumers purchasing festive food such as pigs in blankets and turkey. Meanwhile, Barclays revealed that consumer spending on debit and credit cards was flat in December 2024 due to offsetting cutbacks in some essential spending and people’s spending more on entertainment and leisure activities.
The BRC warned retailers over rising National Insurance Contributions and higher National Living Wage, indicating that shoppers might face fewer discounts and higher prices in the coming months. Retail analyst, Natalie Berg, from NBK Retail, also noted that consumers were not ‘battening down the hatches’ just yet. Nevertheless, the last three months of 2024 marked a challenging year for the retail sector, primarily because of weak consumer confidence and difficult economic conditions. Additionally, footfall decreased by 2.2% throughout the year, making it the second year in a row to exhibit this trend
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