Early Black Friday fizzles out with lacklustre November retail sales

Growth of 2.7% in November

Retail sales increased in November, but were 36% lower than a year ago, as retailers hope that consumers will increase their spending in the run-up to Christmas.

Total UK retail sales grew by 2.7% in November, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG. However, this was against a growth of 4.2% in November 2022.  The latest figures are above the three month average growth of 2.6% but below the 12-month average growth of 4.1%, despite a large push from retailers around Black Friday. Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said the "limping" sales growth close to Christmas was evidence that the cost of living crisis was taking its toll on spending. US revises strong Q3 GDP numbers upwards to 5.2% "With two of t...