Air fryers help Scottish retailers to best monthly sales in 20 years
Total sales in Scotland increased by 11.3% in December compared to the year before
Energy savvy shoppers snapping up air fryers and heated clothes airers helped push Scottish retailers to their best monthly performance in two decades.
Total sales in Scotland increased by 11.3% in December compared to the year before, the Scottish Retail Consortium said on Wednesday, but when adjusted for inflation the year-on-year figure was slashed to just 3.9%.
Retail industry 'not out of the woods yet'
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said after two years of Covid misery, retailers were "finally able to toast sparkling Christmas sales as 2022 finished with a flourish" but warned they were "far from being out of the woods yet" because of the pandemic's economic legacy and high inflation.
"December's retail sales shone compared to recent months, and the comparable month the year before, as shoppers returned to spending and took advantage of the first Christmas in three years without pandemic-era curbs or instructions to shun socialising," he said.
Cost of gas and electricity left people with no alternative
With the cost of gas and electricity having soared, consumers hungry to save cash on their energy bills this winter helped push up sales north of the border.
Sales of air fryers, slow cookers and heated clothes airers performed well, the consortium's analysis said, as did blankets and bedding.
And the cold snap in December, which the Met Office recorded as the only colder than average month last year - and at its coldest saw temperatures plunge as low as -17.3C in Braemar, Aberdeenshire - helped push sales of winter coats and boots.
Total food sales increased by 11.5% compared to December 2021, when they had grown by just 1.2%, and total non-food sales rose by 11%, the consortium's Retail Sales Monitor figures said.