Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 19, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK retailers report a pre-Christmas sales slump, with CBI's survey indicating a decline in retail sales and gloomy outlook for early 2026.
LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - British retailers have reported a pre-Christmas slump in sales and they are gloomier about their prospects for the start of 2026, according to a survey published on Friday.
The Confederation of British Industry said its gauge of how retail sales compared with a year earlier worsened to -44 in December from -32 in November.
The CBI's gauge of expected sales for the month ahead deteriorated to -57 from -24, the weakest reading since expectations for the month of March 2021, when Britain was still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Official data published earlier on Friday showed retail sales fell last month, the latest in a string of data suggesting a slowdown in the broader economy ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget at the end of November.
The CBI's survey was conducted between November 24 and December 11. Of 161 respondents, 60 were retailers and 85 were wholesalers.
(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce)
Retail sales refer to the total receipts of retail stores, measuring consumer spending on goods and services over a specific period.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organization that represents companies and provides insights on economic trends.
Consumer perception is how customers view and interpret a brand or product based on their experiences and information.
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