November’s retail sales, in discretionary categories proved unexciting — that’s the conclusion to be drawn from the latest monthly High Street Sales Tracker (HSST) from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.

It said that total like-for-like retail sales in-store and online grew by 3.4% in November, while stores recorded sales growth of just 1.3% compared to November 2024.

But overall, discretionary spend growth remained below inflation meaning sales volumes were down.

And coming after those sales fell 5.8% a year ago, it’s clear that they haven’t yet even recovered that lost ground.

In-store specifically, sales grew by just 1.3%, as mentioned, compared to a very poor base of a 5.5% fall in November 2024. This is also well below the rate of inflation which means that sales volumes are significantly down. 

And sales growth this time was primarily driven by online, which increased by 9.9% compared to a negative 7.8% for the same month last year, reflecting the continued struggles of physical stores to attract consumer spending, but also online spending barely getting back to where it was in November 2023. 

Worse for those who invested a lot in Black Friday promotions is that while the event “failed to drive any meaningful sales growth for retailers or get shoppers spending in stores in November”, Black Friday week itself saw the lowest sales growth during the month, at just 0.38% above the same week last year. 

The intense discounting during the month will, of course have put further pressure on margins.  

BDO’s Sophie Michael said: “While retailers may have thought that consumers were holding back until the budget, which was unhelpfully late in the Golden Quarter, the expected surge in Black Friday discretionary spending just hasn’t materialised. 

“Retailers are under intense pressure to compete for every pound spent on non-essentials, and persistent food inflation is making this battle all the tougher, leaving consumers with less money to spend in discretionary categories. Ultimately this Christmas may come down to a battle between feasting and gifting – will consumers prioritise filling their festive tables or buying gifts and filling stockings?”

She also thinks it will be “tempting for retailers to continue the heavy discounting we saw in November, to boost sales and clear stock before new product lines come through in January, but we know that this only erodes margins. Margins and profits are already under huge pressure, and we’ve seen in November that discounts are not enough to get shoppers into stores”.