The retail sector saw a significant increase in spending due to Black Friday sales and the beginning of the run up to Christmas, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Debit card transaction data shows that retail spending rose by 33% in the week to 27 November, despite a general decline in sales since the peak level in August.

Overall retail footfall was 4% higher than the previous week, although it was only 85% of the level seen before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.

Shopping centre footfall saw the largest weekly increase of 5%, but was still relatively low compared to 2019. Meanwhile, footfall in retail parks was the closest to 2019, at 93%.

Compared with the same period in 2021, debit and credit card spending increased across all categories apart from travel and accommodation. Total spending was up by 13% compared to last year, and 33% higher than the pre-Covid baseline.

However, the ONS noted that this spending data does have its limitations:

"Users should note that card spending over time is pushed upwards by the impacts of both inflation on value of transactions and cash-to-card conversion."

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