British retail sales rose much more than expected in November, driven by strength across nearly all categories running into the key Christmas holiday shopping season.
The Office for National Statistics said retail sales rose 0.6% on the month against expectations of a modest rise of 0.1% and after two straight months of falls. October's 0.4% fall was revised down slightly to a drop of 0.5%.
That brought the annual rate of growth in sales up to 6.1%, showing that consumers were hitting the shops in force running into the time of year when many retailers rake in a large sum of their yearly sales.
The three month on three month rate of growth in retail sales, which is a better gauge of the trend, was up 1.3%, higher than the 1.2% previously.
But in a sign that price competition is still tough on the High Street, the retail sales deflator slipped to -1.5% on the year in November from -1.4%.
Household goods and clothing and footwear saw particularly large price falls in November, the ONS said. November's monthly sales increase was driven particularly by household goods stores, clothing and footwear stores and food stores, the ONS said.
The ONS also said that Internet retailers showed strong growth on a year ago while mail order sales were down.
The only category that did not show strength on the month in November, was some toy retailers and sport shops, which reported sales were down on a year ago, the ONS said.
