Food and drink retailers managed to buck the trend following the worst UK retail figures in 10 years, the British Retail Consortium said.
Helped by the longer pre-Christmas week, food and drink were the only areas to show some growth, with retail like-for-like sales on average declining 0.4 per cent compared with last year.
Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC, said: “These figures represent the worst Christmas for retailers in the last decade.
“Even the materialisation of the expected last minute rush and strong trading for many retailers in the post-Christmas sales could not turn December into a positive month.”
However, he said the situation was far from the hype of “worst Christmas in living memory” proposed by some commentators.
Although there are concerns for the year ahead: “The lack of consumer confidence created by uncertainty over the economy and housing market dominated December and remains a strong concern for the sector as it shows no signs of abating.”
When it came to food and drink, sales showed good overall growth, although some retailers did experience some disappointing trade on produce, however Christmas promotions did well.
