Scottish retail sales up in volume but down in value, according to Scottish Retail Consortium

Scottish retail sales decreased by 0.2 per cent in value in December 2015 compared with December 2014, according to figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium and KPMG.

However, adjusted for a deflation in prices according to the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, the total volume of Scottish sales increased by 1.8 per cent.

This was the best performance in retail sales since January 2014, but behind growth in the UK as a whole.

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There was good news in the grocery sector with food sales up 1.1 per cent on December 2014, although in December 2014 they had decreased 1.9 per cent on the previous year.

This was the best performance in the food category since November 2013.

Adjusted for the effect of online sales in Scotland, total non-food sales increased by 1.8 per cent against a decline of 0.5 per cent in December 2014, their second best performance of 2015.

David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “This positive set of results for December provided a final flourish to what was otherwise a tepid 2015 as a whole for retail sales in Scotland.

“Once adjusted for falling shop prices, total retail sales increased by a commendable 1.8 per cent last month, the best performance in almost two years.

“This was largely driven by purchases of festive food and drink in the run up to Christmas, although non-food categories continued to gather momentum, most notably online.”

He noted that food sales had seen their best monthly performance in over two years, although the ‘other non-food’ category – which includes furniture, electricals and health and beauty, but excludes clothing and shoes – was the best performing category during the whole of 2015, as a result in part by improvements in the housing market.

Clothing and footwear suffered during December, due to the unusually warm and wet weather.

“It is far too early to say whether this uptick in December heralds the start of a more sustained recovery in the growth of total retail sales,” said Lonsdale.

“It does however reinforce the need for the political parties vying to become the next devolved government to prioritise policies which support consumer confidence, including greater certainty over the future direction of travel on council tax reform and the new Scottish income tax, and which tackle the soaring cumulative burden of government-influenced costs, which can too often weigh down retailers’ investment plans.”