Food prices fall ahead of Christmas

Food prices have moved into reverse for the first time in at least eight years, according to the British Retail Consortium.

John Lewis reported its biggest ever week of sales in 150 years of trading

The group’s shop price index, conducted alongside Nielsen and published today, has shown overall deflation on the high street for the last year and a half but this is the first time the slide in prices has moved to food. Food prices fell 0.2 per cent in November, while overall shop prices reported deflation for the 19th consecutive month, unchanged at 1.9 per cent.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “This is great news for shoppers, and will hopefully tempt more folk on to Scotland’s high streets and retail centres at what is the most important trading period in the year for many retailers.”

It comes as department store chain John Lewis reported its biggest ever week of sales in 150 years of trading. Fuelled by Black Friday, overall sales were up 21.8 per cent compared with last year at £179.1 million, with online sales recording a 42.2 per cent year-on-year growth.

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