The UK retail sector has suffered its worst annual performance on record.
The value of retail sales fell by 0.1% in 2019, down from 1.2% growth in 2018, making the worst year since comparable data were first gathered in 1995.
Results for the five weeks to December 28 appear to show Black Friday working its black magic to give retailers a much needed end of year lift, with sales rising by 1.9%, according to KPMG and the British Retail Consortium. However, much of this increase is the result of Black Friday coming later this year than last year.
Taking November and December together to iron out the distortion, total sales in fact declined by 0.9% compared with the same period in 2018.
