No Christmas cheer for retailers

Clothing sales fell sharply despite heavy discounting by retailers

Scotland has seen the lowest growth in pre-Christmas shopping sales in eight years, with retail figures in November decreasing for the first time in 2008.

Figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) reveal a 0.8% drop in like-on-like retail sales in November.

Household goods, clothing and footwear all fell sharply despite discounts. The SRC said people were leaving Christmas shopping late and chasing bargains.

But total sales in Scotland are still faring better that the rest of the UK.

Although sales in this area - which include new store openings - are down, they have grown by almost 3% compared to the rest of the country, where growth is negative.

The omens for December sales being up on last year don't appear favourable Fiona Moriarty Scottish Retail Consortium

Fiona Moriarty, director of the SRC, predicted further retail woes for December.

She said: "There is no evidence yet of the spending boost most retailers expect in the last two months of the year.

"Hard-pressed customers are certainly continuing the trend of recent years and leaving Christmas shopping late and, with people nervous about their own future finances, bargain-chasing is widespread.

"In the end, customers will spend for Christmas but, even with VAT cuts and more continued heavy discounting, the omens for December sales being up on last year don't appear favourable."

The figures show a 5.3% decline in sales in the non-food sector for the sixth consecutive month. Big-ticket homeware sales were particularly badly hit.

The report said the decline in the non-food sector was compensated for, to some extent, by a 4.1% growth in like-for-like food sales.