• Footfall jumps as deep discount offers attract shoppers
• But food and drink registers seventh straight decline
THE number of people visiting stores in Scotland increased in November, helped in part by the growing adoption – by non-food stores and by supermarkets – of the United States tradition of late-November Black Friday sales, featuring deep discounts on leisure items, electronics and other goods.
But the extra footfall didn’t help Scottish food and drink sales, they were down again. The Scottish Retail Consortium – KPMG Retail Sales Monitor found that total food sales were 2.3% down on November 2013.
Like-for-like sales, a figure that strips out the effects of shops that launched or closed down during the period, showed food sales in November down 3.8% on the previous year.
The year-on-year change in Scottish food sales in total terms has now been negative for seven consecutive months. The category’s three-month performance showed a decline of 2.4%. That’s a considerably steeper decline than the overall UK rate of 1.2% And the twelve-month average remained negative. Sales were down 0.7%, a record decline.
“Food sales continued to disappoint, although retailers noticed early evidence of speciality food items being purchased particularly towards the end of last month, which are likely to be Christmas-related purchases,” said David Lonsdale, director of the SRC.
