Retail sales rose in December despite falling over the fourth quarter (Q4), new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have revealed.
Retail revenues were estimated to have dropped 0.3% over Q4 (October to December 2025) compared to Q3, as supermarkets and non-store retailers’ revenues both declined.
However, retail sales were forecast to have grown 0.4% in December, after a 0.1% fall in November and a 0.8% decline in October.
Non-store retailers saw volumes increase 4.2% in December, after declines in November and October, the ONS found.
Food stores volumes shrunk -1.1% over Q4, while nudging up 0.2% in December.
Other non-food sales climbed 1% in December, which the ONS attributed to online demand for gold and silver jewellery, as demand for precious metals picked up over the month.
Annual sales volumes climbed 1.3% over the year to 2025, with increases across both food and non-food stores, as well as non-store retailers.
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British Retail Consortium (BRC) economist Harvir Dhillon said: “ONS retail sales figures show a fragmented market over Christmas, with larger retailers seeing sales drop 1.6% while smaller independents grew 6.4%.
“Food sales remained relatively stable, but this was owing to rising food inflation rather than increased sales.
“Typically popular Christmas gifting categories such as electricals, books and health and beauty saw sales drop as people tightened their purse strings.”
He added: “This performance capped off a difficult year, where significant cost pressures have been weighing down on the industry.
“If these costs continue to climb, whether through higher business rates bills or higher costs of employment, then it will be ordinary workers who are most affected as more entry-level and flexible jobs disappear.
“This means more people tightening their belts, and less spending in the economy in future.”
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