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Today's retail sales data just showed, what many analysts and economists had feared - a failure of black Friday sales.
When UK retail sales dropped in October by -0.2% from a year ago, optimists were eager to point out that shoppers' halted purchase, awaiting the mega black Friday sales. Black Friday sales concept was borrowed by UK retailers from US, where retailers both online and offline, lined up to overwhelm customers with big discounts.
Despite black Friday discount, UK retail sales decreased -0.4% from November 2014, when they had increased 0.9% from the preceding year. On a total basis, sales were up 0.7%, against a 2.2% rise in November 2014. Total growth was below the 3-month average of 2.0% and the 12-month average of 1.7%.
However, this year it is more prominent than ever that online retailing is penetrating fast.
Online sales of non-Food products in the UK grew 11.8% y/y. The non-Food online penetration rate was 22.4%, up 2.1% from November 2014 and the highest on record.
However Black Friday wasn't a complete failure, as data point out that sales were 50% larger in last week of November, compared to first week, however David McCorquodale, Head of Retail, KPMG, point out there were slowdown in sales in most categories as consumers held off purchases and there was minimal loosening of purse strings compared to last year.
This weakness in purchase neither good news for UK retailers, nor for the Pound, which is trading at 1.505 against Dollar.
