UK retail sales falter in November
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Friday 19 Dec 2025
(Sharecast News) - UK retail sales softened in November, undershooting expectations for a small rise, after Black Friday failed to bolster demand.
According to data released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics, retail sales volumes were estimated to have fallen by 0.1% on a seasonally-adjusted basis, following an upwardly revised fall of 0.9% in October. Analysts had been expecting a 0.4% uplift.
In the three months to November, sales rose 0.6%, boosted by strong performances from both clothing shops and computer and telecommunication retailers. However, the three-month rise was below expectations, for a 0.9% increase.
Seasonally-adjusted figures strip out the effect of Black Friday, which this year was on 28 November; last year it fell into the ONS's December reporting period.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, sales volumes jumped 11.9%, compared with a 4.4% rise in October.
The ONS said data suggested that the Black Friday effect was "slightly weaker than usual" this year.
According to its own research into public opinions, less than a third of adults said they planned to shop in the Black Friday sales.
Matt Swannell, chief economic advisor to the EY Item Club, said: "Today's data should be approached with a healthy degree of scepticism. The monthly retail sales series can be noisy, and past experience has shown that the sector's November readings tend to be revised down at a later date.
"So the true picture may be weaker that November's outturn suggests.
"But given these seasonality issues, and that a large proportion of total annual retail sales come in the final two months of the year, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions on the health of the sector until the December data is available."
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