Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic statistics at the ONS, said: “Retail sales for 2020 saw their largest annual fall in history as the impact of the pandemic took its toll."
He said: "Clothing retailers fared particularly badly, with a record annual fall of over 25%, while movement restrictions led to a record year-on-year decline for fuel sales.”
Non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen in early December from the previous month’s lockdown.
However, later in December tier 4 rules came in for some areas, including in London. That meant ‘non-essential’ retailers had to temporarily close again, such as clothing and jewellery chains, in the important festive season.
Athow said: “December’s retail sales increased slightly, driven by an improved month for clothing sales, as the easing of some lockdown measures for parts of the month meant more stores were able to open. Food store sales this month were subdued as retailers reported lockdowns and restrictions on the sale of non-essential items impacted on footfall.”
He pointed to the popularity of click and collect during the pandemic and people buying more items from home leading to a strong year for overall internet sales, with record highs for food and household goods sales online.
