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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Josie Clarke

Retailers suffer ‘drab’ Christmas as shoppers shun gifting for sales – figures

United Kingdom Barclays Helen Dickinson The British Retail Consortium
Consumer spending remained cautious, the British Retail Consortium said (Jonathan Brady/PA) - (PA Wire)

Retailers suffered a “drab” Christmas as shoppers shunned gifting to hold out for the Boxing Day and January sales, figures suggest.

Total UK retail sales were up 1.2% year-on-year in December – well below last December’s growth of 3.2% and the 12-month average of 2.3%, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.

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