UK retail December sales drop 1% vs. consensus of 0.5%; compares to November retail sales drop of 0.4%.
The figure measures change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level, where actual greater than projected is good for the currency.
Second monthly drop is a sign that the UK consumer is suffering as retail sales miss on estimates by quite some margin.
Sales volumes were 1.7% below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) February levels.
Non-food stores sales volumes fell by 2.1% and food store sales volumes fell by 0.3% on the month.
The proportion of online sales fell to 25.4% in December 2022 from 25.9% in November, with anecdotal evidence that Royal Mail strikes led to consumers shopping in stores more.
