November 2019 UK Retail Sales: Nonfood Sales Turn Negative

What's Inside

UK retail saw a weak start to the 2019 holiday season. Because Black Friday fell so late this year, it was not captured in the ONS’s unadjusted November 2019 data, but even adjusted for that factor, we saw a sequential slowing of UK retail sales growth in November across a number of sectors.

• Grocery was soft while year-over-year growth at clothing and department stores turned negative
• Electrical-goods retailers saw sales fall
• Furniture stores were also down year over year—showing continued weak demand for big-ticket categories