Food sales on the rise but elsewhere the high street looks glum

Like-for-like sales of food jumped 3.5 per cent compared to December 2009 - the biggest increase in 18 months and helped by shoppers stockpiling during the big freeze - but consumer caution saw sales of non-food items drop by 1.8 per cent.

Overall, the Scottish Retail Consortium-KPMG figures revealed a 0.7 per cent rise during the month, while the UK as a whole saw a drop of 0.3 per cent for the same period, although the Scottish figures were compared to a very weak December 2009.

Fiona Moriarty, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, described it as "a steady Christmas of unspectacular growth" but said consumers were clearly still cautious.

"All December's sales growth came from food while extreme weather and economic uncertainties dealt a major blow to sales of non-food goods. But a seasonal surge in food sales cannot disguise customers' cautious mood," she said.

"There was a big rush in the last week before Christmas and lots of bargain hunting once the clearance sales started. But it wasn't enough to outweigh the damage to non-food sales from the combination of bad weather and fears about job cuts and falling incomes."

Moriarty said transport difficulties had helped one-stop shopping destinations and neighbourhood stores.

She added: "Concern about further disruption encouraged people to use breaks in the weather for stocking up on essentials and Christmas food and drink, but gifts were less of a priority."

David McCorquodale, KPMG's head of retail in Scotland, said although non-food sales improved in the final week as shoppers headed out to take advantage of bargains in advance of the VAT rise, it had not been enough to make good the pre-Christmas shortfall.

But he said there were some general signs for optimism from the high street. "2011 is set to be a challenging year but Christmas updates from retailers do not reflect the dire picture of two years ago."

Not surprisingly, foods such as soups, stews and pies were strong performers for food sales during the month as were festive goods like smoked salmon and confectionery.

But in the non-food sector, clothing and footwear showed their largest year-on-year decline since May 2009.

Sales of "big ticket" furniture items were also well down on a year ago as concerns remained about jobs, incomes and the housing market. Homewares sales and DIY sales - apart from grit, salt, heating and plumbing - fell back and remained down on a year ago.

Sales of electricals goods were mixed and often discounted, although white goods held up well. Computers were also in demand, with iPads and tablets particularly strong, and medicines also benefited from the cold weather.