U.K. Retail Sales Plunge in December in Black Friday Hangover

Jan 18 2019, 9:30 AMJan 18 2019, 11:06 AMJanuary 18 2019, 9:30 AMJanuary 18 2019, 11:06 AM

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. retailers experienced their customary post-Black Friday slump in December, Office for National Statistics figures showed Friday.

The volume of goods sold in stores and online fell a larger-than-forecast 0.9 percent from November, when they surged 1.3 percent. Sales excluding auto fuel dropped 1.3 percent, the most since May 2017.

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The survey, which includes Cyber Monday, was carried out between Nov. 25 and Dec. 29. Black Friday fell on Nov. 23, with promotions getting under way well before then.
The average non-seasonally adjusted weekly value of sales in December was 9.4 billion pounds ($12.2 billion), 2.1 percent higher than a year earlier.
Online sales accounted for 20 percent of the total last month.