In comparison, grocery sales were hugely increased this past Christmas - https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/fmcg/2024-wp-record-numbers-hit-the-shops-as-supermarkets-experience-busiest-christmas-since-2019 .

Perhaps messages about being eco conscious have moved some people away from spending on plastic tat and focused more on having lavish food for the Christmas period? Or does this figure not take into account inflation and this is just to do with food price inflation being higher than other sectors?

Hopefully, if the big bosses of various big companies are indeed in some kind of club with each other, this is where the bosses of the companies that "suffered" have a quiet word with the bosses of the companies that did well in order to ensure the fairer redistribution of wealth. (At their level. Screw everyone else.)

It might mean a levelling of prices back to the same kind of ratio we preferred. The prices very much won't be to our liking unfortunately, but the ratios will be nicer. Hopefully.

And it might mean the greedier C-levels have to sulk about things for a while, instead of the ones that "suffered", which is the only positive that can come out of all of this for the rest of us.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the sales slump, which followed a 1.4% rise in November fuelled by Black Friday promotions, hit all retail sectors.

“This was the largest overall monthly fall since January 2021, when the reintroduction of pandemic restrictions knocked sales heavily,” said Heather Bovill, a deputy director at the ONS.

“Department stores, clothing shops and household goods retailers reported sluggish sales too as consumers spent less on Christmas gifts, but had also purchased earlier during Black Friday promotions, to help spread the cost.”

Retailers partly blamed the scale of the fall on consumers buying gifts earlier than usual in November to spread the cost of Christmas.

“The scale of the decline will have surprised many, with retail sales volumes now falling well below pre-pandemic levels,” said Lisa Hooker, the leader of industry for consumer markets at PwC.

The ONS said overall retail sales volumes fell 2.8% in 2023, after a fall of 3.4% in 2022, reflecting the impact of high inflation and the cost of living pressures making consumers increasingly cautious about spending.

The original article contains 497 words, the summary contains 178 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!