Business advisory firm Deloitte has released new research predicting a small 0.5 per cent increase in UK retail sales during December, a performance it described as 'resilient' in the context of the current economic downturn.
According to the report, entitled 'The Retail Review: Changing Habits, Shifting Patterns', UK shoppers are swinging towards supermarket groups as opposed to non-food retailers.
'Customers are gravitating to the grocers,' said Tarlok Teji, Deloitte's head of retail. 'The increasing number of budget or own-label products has been a winner for the supermarkets.'
Deloitte found that 78 per cent of UK consumers were currently spending more or the same amount of money on food and grocery products, compared with 45 per cent spending less on clothing, 59 per cent spending less on snacking and 60 per cent spending less on impulse purchases.
Meanwhile, the group forecast that 2010 would see a drop in retail sales of 1.5 per cent as consumer spending is hit by taxes and rising unemployment across the country.
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