ONS announced that retail sales grew by just 0.4% in December. This increase occurs during a more typical time of year, usually propped up by a strong holiday shopping season. This increase represents the second straight year of increases. Retail performance across the board for the festive period was worse than expected. Although e-tailers, particularly jewellers, saw a boom in orders, bricks and mortar shops struggled with circumstances that skewed sales numbers.
Like these categories, online jewellers had a successful festive period, achieving record sales in the process. Consumers are placing gold and silver at the top of their priorities. Unlike other commodities, their price has shot up over the last year due in large part to their fledgling role as a safe-haven asset during economic turmoil. In December, shoppers rushed to digital jewellery purveyors, seduced by the gifting aspect combined with the lure of a long-term investment.
While this is great news for online jewellery, the retail environment overall was a mixed bag. Retail sales fell, according to the ONS, down 0.9% for non-food retailers. This aggregates things like department stores, clothing stores and home furnishings. Supermarkets and online retailers saw the same sales slide over the last quarter of 2022.
Aside from changing consumer preferences, other factors added to the retail landscape’s unpredictability. US President Donald Trump just threatened to slap new tariffs on the eight European countries. This announcement was so unexpected that it resulted in a huge rise in gold and silver prices. Because of this geopolitical tension, consumers are taking to the market and buying these precious metals as a safe-haven investment.
Alice Cowley, managing director of Accenture’s retail practice, commented on the retail growth by noting that while food purchases and holiday preparations contributed to the increase, they were insufficient for significant growth across the sector.
“But while food, discounts and holiday preparations pushed up sales, it wasn’t enough to drive significant growth,” – Alice Cowley
Despite a monthly increase in December that was bigger than expected, retail sales volumes declined by 0.3% on the quarter. November had already shown a 0.1% decrease, with October’s numbers revised down by 0.8%.
Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, focused on uncertainty still felt by consumers regarding where the economy is headed.
“We remain a long way from consumers feeling that better days are around the corner,” – Neil Bellamy
Nicholas Hyett, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, called it a “fabulous set of results in an awful winter for traditional retailers.” He explained that there were hardly any signs of “merriment on the high street.”
“Among online retailers, jewellers enjoyed a particularly golden Christmas. In uncertain times shoppers seem to be being drawn to dual purpose jewels that not only tick the Christmas present box but provide a convenient long-term store of value as well,” – Nicholas Hyett
UK retail sales expanded by 1.3% in 2025. This growth is bolstered by continued robust increases across food and non-food stores and non-store retailers, mostly eCommerce. Yet the second half of the year revealed severe downturns for many local, in-person stores.