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"A better-than-hoped for December closed a relentlessly tough year for retailers"
- Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC
U.K. retail sector expanded in December 2011, compared to the same period last year as retailers offered generous discounts to lure shoppers. Retails sales rose 2.2 per cent, after declining 1.6 per cent the previous year, said the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday.
"A better-than-hoped for December closed a relentlessly tough year for retailers, but these figures hinged on a dazzling last pre-Christmas week and were boosted by some major one-off factors," said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC.
"We're not witnessing any fundamental change in customers' circumstances." A "solid" December had not "rescued a pretty miserable year" for UK retailers, added Mr. Robertson.