We’re starting to get a clearer picture of just how UK spending played out last month with two reports on Tuesday showing that fashion and beauty spend was muted and even where sales rose, they didn’t keep up with price inflation.
Barclays said that total consumer card spending (which doesn’t only include retail) grew 4.4% in December, which was better than November, but still well below the rate of inflation.
And figures for specific retail spending echoed that trend with the British Retail Consortium, saying non-food retail spend rose 3.2%.
Looking more closely at the Barclays figures, it’s clear that 4.4% – although not bad – didn’t go anywhere near to meeting the 9.3% rise in consumer price inflation.
And a lot of the spending was accounted for by the fact consumers were obviously prioritising necessities with spending on utilities, rising a massive 40.6% as a cold snap meant people turning up the heating.
That said, holiday bookings also rose, which should be good news for the fashion and beauty sectors further down the line as people invest…
