January 11 2007

High street sales up on last year

High street sales in December were not all doom and gloom as retailers would have had us believe at the beginning of December. December's like-for-like sales were up 2.5% on 2005, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.

Total sales in December were up 4.4% on last year and show the effect of growth in the industry over the past year in terms of expansions and new shop openings. The three-month growth across October to December showed an increase in like-for-like sales of 1.9%.

While these figures show a truer state of affairs for the retail sector than looking at figures for online sales alone, the 50% increase in internet shopping this Christmas, against last year, highlights how important it is for retailers to not only be online but to provide a good, consistent customer service.

Despite the predictions of a poor Christmas for high street retailers (blamed in some cases on the rise of internet shopping), "these results are almost exactly in line with our expectations - which were for like-for-like sales growth similar to last year's out-turn," said Kevin Hawkins, Director General, British Retail Consortium.

"These results are very much in line with those of last year," said Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail at KPMG.

Emma Herrod