LONDON, Jan 21 (BBC): United Kingdom (UK) retail sales fell by 1.5 per cent in December compared with November, the biggest monthly fall since the EU referendum, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said many shoppers had shifted spending to November to take advantage of Black Friday offers.
It comes as Carpetright and clothing chain Bonmarche were the latest retailers to report a tough Christmas.
A squeeze on consumer spending also led to a difficult December for UK shops.
Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser, and Mothercare were among the other High Street retailers which reported a decline in sales.
Inflation has been outstripping increases in wages, denting the spending power of shoppers.
For 2017 as a whole, the quantity bought increased by 1.9 per cent, which was the lowest annual growth since 2013.
This picture was underlined on Friday when trading updates from Carpetright and clothing chain Bonmarche unsettled investors enough to prompt big share price falls.
Carpetright issued a profit warning amid a "sharp deterioration" in UK trade, sending its shares down by almost a half.
Bonmarche shares sank by a quarter after it said like-for-like sales at its stores dropped nearly 10 per cent in the last three months of 2017.
It's always tricky looking at one month's set of retail figures. Although December saw a bigger than expected dip than the previous month, it's been clear for some time that the pattern of Christmas spending is changing.
Black Friday has been hugely disruptive, bringing forward consumer spending that would otherwise have taken place in the traditional month of December. So that's had a knock-on effect on today's figures.
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