SCOTTISH retail sales in December were down on the same month of 2013, in contrast to a year-on-year rise in the UK as a whole, industry figures have revealed.
The figures, published today by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), show that the value of retail sales north of the Border in the key trading month of December was down 1.8 per cent on a year earlier.
Even taking into account annual shop price deflation calculated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market researcher Nielsen at 1.7 per cent, the SRC noted that the volume of retail sales in December was down by a rounded 0.2 per cent on the same month of 2013.
SRC director David Lonsdale described the year-on-year fall in Scottish retail sales as "unfortunate", and declared 2014 had been a "testing" year for many retailers.
He cited the "continuing fragility" of the economic recovery. Mr Lonsdale called on the Scottish Government to support consumer spending through future policy measures.
The year-on-year decline in the value of Scottish retail sales in December was faster than the corresponding fall of 1.4 per cent in November.
Figures published last week by the BRC showed the value of UK retail sales last month was up one per cent on December 2013.
While significantly better than the Scottish outturn, this was the weakest year-on-year growth in the value of UK retail sales for any December since 2008.
The BRC noted last week that the value of UK food sales had in December shown year-on-year growth for the first time since last April.
The SRC's latest figures show that the value of food sales in Scotland in December was down 1.9 per cent on the same month of 2013.
This marked a slight deceleration in the year-on-year rate of decline from 2.3 per cent in November.
The SRC highlighted the fact that the year-on-year fall in the value of food sales in Scotland was the least marked since August.
The value of non-food sales in Scotland in December was down by 1.8 per cent on the same month of 2013.
However, while non-food sales were weaker overall, the SRC survey shows Scottish clothing retailers fared well in December.
The year-on-year movements in retail sales have, in recent times, been consistently weaker in Scotland than the UK as a whole on the basis of the SRC and BRC figures.
Mr Lonsdale has previously cited stronger economic growth and a sharper rise in house prices in other parts of the UK, notably London and south-east England, as possible reasons for the weaker retail sales performance in Scotland.
Evidence has been mounting in recent weeks that the unbalanced UK economic recovery has been losing momentum.
Looking ahead, Mr Lonsdale urged the Scottish Government to put in place measures that would help boost consumer spending.
He said: "Holyrood is set to exert significant influence over take-home pay and disposable incomes later this year when it begins setting income tax rates and when the First Minister's alternative to council tax is unveiled.
"It is absolutely imperative that these decisions on personal levels of taxation, and therefore the amount of money in people's pockets, are ones which support consumer spending and economic recovery."
Commenting on the December sales figures for Scotland, Mr Lonsdale added: "Even adjusted for shop prices, which are falling at the moment, the small decrease in sales in December is unfortunate and rounds off what was a testing 2014 for many in the industry."
He also cited the impact on the December sales figures of the Black Friday discounting frenzy in November, a tradition imported from the US.
Mr Lonsdale said: "Consumers remain cautious and the surge in online sales at the time of 'Black Friday' in late November clearly had the impact of pulling sales forward, particularly from the early part of last month."
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