Two key monthly spending reports came out on Tuesday morning and showed that, as other reports have suggested, that November retail sales and general spending were pretty unimpressive.

It’s worth noting that different reports use different criteria to reach their figures so there will be variations. 

Barclays said card spending saw its greatest fall since 2021 last month, as consumer confidence remained subdued.

Non-essential spend fell for the first time since July 2024, although Black Friday still managed to give retailers their busiest day of 2025.

So let’s look at the numbers. Consumer card spending (which takes in all types of spending, such as dining out and entertainment, as well as retail) was down 1.1% year on year. It was considerably lower than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.8%. The biggest drop was seen in essential spending, which was down 2.9% but non-essential spending fell only 0.3%.

Specific card spending at retail dipped 1.1% and transaction growth was negative to the tune of 2.3%, but on Black Friday transaction volumes rose 62.5% compared to the average day this year.

Of the sectors that came out on top, pharmacy, health & beauty spending grew 6.1% in November, continuing its strong streak as far as spend growth was concerned, although transaction growth was negative at 2.4%.

Clothing store spend was up 1.3% with transaction growth of 3.6%. Department stores had a tough time with spend down 8.2% and transaction growth down 6.4%.

Meanwhile, the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, said UK total retail sales increased by 1.4% year on year in November, against a decline of 3.3% in November 2024. This was below the 12-month average growth of 2.5%.

Non-food sales increased by 0.1% year on year, against a decline of 7.9% in November 2024. In-store non-food sales decreased by 0.3%, after a fall of 6.2% in November 2024 and online non-food sales increased by 0.5% year on year, against a drop of 10.3% a year ago.

Both fashion and footwear dipped slightly during the month, according to the BRC. This goes against the Barclays view that clothing sales rose slightly. But in both cases, the fact is that fashion stores went the extra mile to drive sales and didn’t seem to be that successful.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Pre-Budget jitters among shoppers meant the month of Black Friday did not deliver as strongly as retailers had hoped or the economy needed. Sales growth was the weakest in six months, despite the elevated inflation. Not unexpectedly, online dominated, with the proportion of non-food bought online reaching its highest level since 2022. Many consumers took advantage of promotions, with homeware and upholstery selling well ahead of festive hosting. Fashion lagged, especially with the mild first half of November dampening demand for winterwear.”