Though key shopping dates drove sales, consumers remained wary of economic unknowns (AFP via Getty) <\/p>\n
UK households<\/a> have cut back on Christmas spending<\/a> at the fastest rate in nearly five years, new figures show.<\/p>\n Data from Barclays<\/a> shows that card spending<\/a> fell 1.1 per cent in November compared to the same time last year, as people dealt with financial uncertainty<\/a> over what was to come in the Budget<\/a>. That\u2019s the biggest drop since shortly after the Covid pandemic, in February 2021.<\/p>\n In addition, while falling, inflation remains high and household bills have been putting cost pressures on families all year.<\/p>\n The combination of those concerns and economic unknowns has driven British people to rein in their spending<\/a> in the run-up to Christmas \u2013 though it appears they still loosened the pursestrings over one prominent weekend.<\/p>\n Despite that fall in month-long spending, the bank confirmed retailers<\/a> generally saw their busiest day of the year, with spending almost two-thirds higher (62 per cent) than on the average day of the year.<\/p>\n In what is perhaps a sign of where retail growth can be found, TikTok Shop announced its UK sales were the highest ever on Black Friday, with 27 products sold per second and the number of shoppers using the site increasing by more than a quarter (28 per cent) compared to 2024.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s expected that physical stores still outsold online sales across the board, discount website VoucherCodes data revealed British people were likely to spend more than \u00a33.7m every minute on Cyber Monday.<\/p>\n But for many firms, online or otherwise, the real concern will be whether November\u2019s spending has simply been pushed back later in the year to the pre-Christmas run-up, or if the nation\u2019s economic situation is enough to have consumers collectively spend less in total.<\/p>\n \u201cThe latest card spending figures from Barclays<\/a> show that consumers have been rattled by all the pre-Budget<\/a> speculation that the taxes they pay might rise or that their employers could be clobbered again,\u201d said AJ Bell\u2019s head of financial analysis, Danni Hewson.<\/p>\n \u201cWorries about the economy, especially the labour market, have made people wary, and many are hyper aware that saving rather than splurging might be the best course of action this Christmas. But people also can\u2019t resist a bargain, especially if they had their eye on a particular item for a while, so it\u2019s not surprising that tills rang out on Black Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe past couple of years have made households<\/a> incredibly savvy about their spending. They know \u2018shrinkflation<\/a>\u2019 when they see it and with prices in the pub jumping up as well it\u2019s no surprise many people are planning to drink less this Christmas.<\/p>\n \u201cOne trend that\u2019s not going away is people\u2019s desire to feel healthier \u2013 either through cutting back on how much alcohol they drink or by splurging on things like vitamins and beauty treatments \u2013 and that\u2019s likely to continue into the New Year as resolutions give people that extra nudge.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s expected that physical stores still outsold online sales across the board (AFP via Getty) <\/p>\n