December marked the worst set of complete month-to-month sales figures since November 2024, with sales volumes throughout the essential ‘Golden Quarter’ “significantly down” on the identical interval in 2024.
That’s in accordance to the newest High Street Sales Tracker from accountancy and enterprise advisory agency BDO, which says excessive avenue shops suffered a sales decline of 0.5% in December 2025 in contrast to the identical month within the earlier yr. Inflation and the price of residing have been cited for the sales slide.
Total retail sales throughout discretionary spend classes fell by 1.4% in December, in contrast to the identical month in 2024, whereas in-retailer sales fell by 0.5% and on-line sales by 0.6 as sales volumes declined throughout channels.
That adopted disappointing sales figures in October and November 2025, when excessive avenue shops recorded under inflation sales figures.
Sophie Michael, Head of Retail and Wholesale at BDO, mentioned: “After a difficult yr, retailers had been very a lot hoping for a robust finish to 2025. Instead, we’ve seen a downward pattern since early within the yr and the worst month-to-month efficiency since November 2024.
“With a late Budget bringing financial uncertainty, the sector noticed a disappointing October and November. Retailers had been anticipating a few of the misplaced sales to be made up within the last weeks main to Christmas, however December failed to generate some a lot wanted festive cheer.
“Due to persistent meals inflation and excessive residing prices, shoppers diminished their discretionary spending over the Christmas interval, specializing in festive meals, drinks and experiences as a substitute of merchandise. Continued financial uncertainty and low client confidence had been additionally driving down spending.
“This creates additional considerations for retailers as we transfer into 2026. Many will nonetheless have vital volumes of leftover inventory but when they low cost too closely, they danger destroying their already squeezed margins.
“With steadiness sheets already feeling the stress after a poor Christmas and the will increase to price bases introduced in earlier Budgets, it will likely be tough to present the mandatory funding in new product strains going ahead.
“This leaves little cause for optimism for this year, but despite the hurdles the sector has historically faced, resilience prevails. Once again, 2026 will see retailers having to continue to adapt and find new ways to attract customers to loosen the purse strings.”