One in three non-food purchases made online

One in three non-food purchases were made online in November, marking an all-time high, new figures have shown.

But the KPMG retail sales monitor found that UK retail sales decreased by 0.5 per cent on a like-forlike basis from November 2017, when they had increased 0.6 per cent from the previous year.

Experts said that despite “aggressive” promotions from retailers, sales had been poor, with only demand for items in the tech sector showing strong growth.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “This month cemented Black Friday as an increasingly digital event, with a record one in every £3 of non-food purchases made online during the month.

“Black Friday week itself was bigger than last year, but did little to lift the overall pace of spending, with sales growth in November falling to its lowest rate in seven months.”

Sue Richardson, retail director at KPMG, said: “Aggressive promotional activity around Black Friday failed to lure shoppers, with like-for-like sales in November actually down 0.5 per cent on last year.

“The benefit of the full weekend, including Cyber Monday, won’t be realised until next month, but it’s clear that growth remains elusive for many retailers.”