UK retail sales rose more than economists forecast in November as Black Friday discounts boosted spending at department stores and shops selling household goods.
Sales volumes increased 1.7 per cent from October, when they fell 0.5 per cent, the Office for National Statistics said in London on Thursday. That was more than the 0.6 per cent gain economists had forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Excluding auto fuel, sales also gained 1.7 per cent.
Discounts in the week leading up to Black Friday on 27 November helped lure shoppers, with sales at department stores rising 3.4 per cent on the month and sales of household goods jumping 4.1 per cent.Food sales rose just 0.8 per cent.
The figures underline the extent to which growth is being driven by domestic demand as the global slowdown weighs on manufacturing and exports. Retail prices, measured by the annual deflator excluding auto fuel, dropped 2.3 per cent in November, the most since 2002.
“A continued fall in prices as well as promotions in the run up to Christmas have helped to boost the amount shoppers bought in November, both on the High Street and online,” Melanie Richard, an ONS statistician, said in a statement.
The Bank of England held its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 per cent this month and officials have indicated they are in no hurry to follow the Federal Reserve, which raised its key rate for the first time in almost a decade on Wednesday.
Sales rose 5 per cent from a year earlier, and by 3.9 per cent when fuel is excluded. In the three months through November, total sales rose 2.1 per cent, the highest figure since February.
Internet sales made up 15.2 per cent of total sales in November, the highest share since records began in January 2008.
The ONS carried out its data collection between 1 November and 28 November and therefore don’t include so-called cyber Monday, normally a big day for Internet sales.
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