Total retail food sales in Scotland increased by 11.5% compared with December 2021, according to the SRC-KPMG Scottish Retail Sales Monitor for December 2022, representing “the best monthly performance in 20 years”.
This figure was marginally ahead of the total retail sales growth figure of 11.3%. Adjusted for inflation, the year-on-year change was 3.9%.
On a like-for-like basis, total Scottish sales increased by 4.6% year-on-year.
David Lonsdale, Director, Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “After two miserable years Scotland’s retailers were finally able to toast sparkling Christmas sales as 2022 finished with a flourish. December’s retail sales shone compared to recent months and the comparable month the year before as shoppers returned to spending and took advantage of the first Christmas in three years without pandemic-era curbs or instructions to shun socialising. Retail sales grew by almost 4% in real terms, the highest in three years, and at a much faster rate than during the second half of 2022. In gross terms, taking into account inflation and excluding Covid-era distortions, this was the best monthly performance in 20 years.
“Retail is far from being out of the woods yet. It’s an industry in transition with retailers navigating their own costs crunch, cash-conscious consumers, and the twin challenges of the economic legacy of Covid and inflationary pressures.”
