SCOTLAND’S retail sector achieved a modest year-on-year rise in total sales value in December, in the teeth of challenging economic conditions, industry figures reveal.

The value of retail sales north of the Border last month was up by 0.8 per cent on December 2016, driven by the food category, according to the latest monthly figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium. Scottish retail sales value in November had been down by 0.6 per cent on the same month of 2016, and the year-on-year rise in December was the first since September.

Food sales value in Scotland in December was up by 4.4 per cent on the same month of 2016, with a significant part of this increase reflecting inflation.

Sterling weakness in the wake of the June 2016 Brexit vote has raised the cost of imports and fuelled inflation.

Figures this month from the British Retail Consortium and market researcher Nielsen show annual food price inflation in the UK rose to 1.8 per cent last month from 1.5 per cent in November. Fresh food price inflation jumped to two per cent in December, from 1.3 per cent the previous month.

The value of non-food sales in Scotland in December was down by 2.2 per cent on the same month of 2016.

This marked a sharp deceleration in the year-on-year rate of decline from 4.4 per cent in November, with SRC director David Lonsdale highlighting strength in clothing and footwear sales last month.

The BRC-Nielsen figures show the year-on-year pace of decline in non-food prices in the retail sector accelerated to 2.1 per cent in December from 1.1 per cent in November, as retailers battled to tempt customers with heavy discounting.

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, head of policy and external affairs at the SRC, said the Scottish retail sales figures for December were “probably a bit better than expected”.

He observed that the continuing contrast between the year-on-year movements in sales value in the food and non-food categories had been in line with expectations.

Mr MacDonald-Russell noted the comparative Scottish retail sales figure for December 2016 had been relatively good. In December 2016, Scottish retail sales value was up by 0.7 per cent on the same month of the previous year.

The 0.8 per cent year-on-year growth in Scottish retail sales value in December 2017 was adrift of a corresponding increase of 1.4 per cent for the UK as a whole, reported in figures published last week by the BRC.

Mr MacDonald-Russell noted the challenges facing retailers this month, against a backdrop of squeezed household budgets.

Real wages are falling again, as a result of the surge in annual UK consumer prices index inflation.

Mr Lonsdale said: “These positive results for December provided a final flourish to what was otherwise a pretty tepid 2017 for Scottish retailers. Last-minute festive purchases and more discounting than in previous years meant the final month of the year ended on an optimistic note for retailers, even with Black Friday in November pulling sales forward from the early part of last month.”