{"id":14938,"date":"2026-01-23T08:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T08:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=14938"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T08:20:28","slug":"demand-for-online-jewellery-boosts-december-retail-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=14938","title":{"rendered":"Demand for online jewellery boosts December retail sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jemma Crew<\/span>Business reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Demand for online jewellery helped to boost retail sales in December, figures show.<\/p>\n

Sales were up 0.4% from the previous month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, citing online jewellers reporting an increased demand for precious metals after a November lull.<\/p>\n

Internet shopping performed well, while there was a small rise for supermarkets and sales of automotive fuel. But sales for non-food retailers, such as department, clothing and household stores, were down 0.9%.<\/p>\n

The monthly rise – larger than expected – comes after retail sales fell unexpectedly in November, even though the period included Black Friday sales. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Retail sales had fallen by 0.1% in November, which followed a 0.8% drop in October. <\/p>\n

Monthly growth rates can be volatile, and ONS said sales volumes fell by 0.3% in the final three months of last year when compared to the previous quarter, with supermarkets and online stores both seeing a fall.<\/p>\n

But across 2025 as a whole, retail sales were up 1.3%, with stronger performances for both food and non-food stores, and non-store retailers (mainly online sellers but also street stalls and markets).<\/p>\n

This represents the second consecutive annual rise, but sales still remain below 2019 pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. <\/p>\n

ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “The last three months of the year saw a slight drop in retail sales following a strong third quarter, with supermarkets and online stores both down.<\/p>\n

“However, sales were up in December, with internet retailing doing well. Within this, online jewellers had a strong month and told us there was higher demand for gold and silver.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The rising cost of living has squeezed shoppers’ purses, and businesses have complained of higher costs following changes announced in the past two Budgets.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Hyett, investment manager at Wealth Club, said the figures showed there was “no festive cheer on the high street” as Christmas shoppers increasingly turned online. <\/p>\n

“Among online retailers, jewellers enjoyed a particularly golden Christmas. In uncertain times shoppers seem to be being drawn to dual purpose jewels that not only tick the Christmas present box, but provide a convenient long-term store of value as well.”<\/p>\n

Alice Cowley, managing director in Accenture’s retail practice, said the “modest” monthly rise would bring some relief after a “difficult autumn”.<\/p>\n

“But while food, discounts and holiday preparations pushed up sales, it wasn’t enough to drive significant growth,” she continued.<\/p>\n

“With Christmas being a crucial time for the sector, those wishing for a bumper trading period were left disappointed.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

#Demand #online #jewellery #boosts #December #retail #sales<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jemma CrewBusiness reporter Ge… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[242],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}