Christmas fails to boost retail sales in December
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The crucial ‘Golden Quarter’ has failed to boost retail sales according to data from the latest High Street Sales Tracker from accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO, with sales marking a decline in December 2025.
Total retail sales across discretionary spend categories fell by -1.4 percent in December, compared to the same month last year, marking the worst monthly performance since November 2024.
In-store sales fell by -0.5 percent and online sales by -0.6 percent, compared to December 2024, as sales volumes declined across channels. This follows disappointing sales figures in November and October, when high street stores recorded below-inflation sales figures.
Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, said in a statement: “After a challenging year, retailers were very much hoping for a strong end to 2025. Instead, we’ve seen a downward trend since early in the year and the worst monthly performance since November 2024.
“With a late Budget bringing economic uncertainty, the sector saw a disappointing October and November. Retailers were expecting some of the lost sales to be made up in the final weeks leading to Christmas, but December failed to generate much-needed festive cheer.
“Due to persistent food inflation and high living costs, consumers reduced their discretionary spending over the Christmas period, focusing on festive food, drinks, and experiences instead of products. Continued economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence were also driving down spending.”
Looking ahead to this year, Michael said the figures create “further concern for retailers,” as many still have significant volumes of leftover stock and discounting too heavily could “risk destroying their already squeezed margins”.
“This leaves little cause for optimism for this year, but despite the hurdles the sector has historically faced, resilience prevails,” added Michael. “Once again, 2026 will see retailers having to continue to adapt and find new ways to attract customers to loosen the purse strings.”