The crucial Christmas shopping season in Britain appears to have got off to a brighter than anticipated start, the country's leading business lobby group said today.
In its monthly distributive trade survey, the Confederation of British Industry said 47 per cent of retailers polled said sales were up on a year ago against 22 per cent saying they were down.
The ensuing balance of +25 per cent is the strongest since December 2004's +33 per cent and greatly exceeded market expectations of a modest improvement to -3 per cent from November's -9 per cent.
The December result is also far better than retailers' expectations. In November's survey, a balance of +9 per cent had predicted improving Christmas sales.
"After a slow start in the run up to Christmas, sales are beginning to build," said John Longworth, executive director at supermarket chain Asda and chairman of the CBI's retailing panel.
"In the first two weeks of December, retailers' sales volumes outshone their expectations, proving good things can come those who wait," he added.
Asda's Longworth said much of the overall sales growth has been achieved at the expense of discounting.
"With expectations for only slow growth in January, though this may be given a boost by further discounting, retailers are hoping they can avoid a repeat of last spring's falling sales volumes," he added.
The good times are not expected to last and lacklustre sales growth is anticipated for January, with only a balance of +4 per cent expecting year-on-year growth in sales during the month.
A more detailed look at the survey found that growth was most rapid in December for food and drink. A balance of +49 per cent of grocers and +88 per cent of specialist food retailers, such as delis and gourmet food shops, reported sales higher than a year ago.