Apparel and footwear prices continue to decline in December

Apparel and footwear prices declined 6.4 percent year on year last month, the largest decrease in prices within all of the UK's non-food categories, as retailers began to offer seasonal discounting for the festive trading period.

Children's, women's and men's wear all reported accelerations in their price deflation rates, while accessories fared a little better and remained above the overall category deflation rate, according to the latest data from the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index.

On a month-on-month basis, prices dropped 0.4 percent from the 0.1 percent drop in November. Total non-food price deflation decelerated to 3 percent year on year last month and overall store prices reported deflation of 2 percent in December, marking the 33rd month of non-food price decline.

"Prices in Britain’s shops have continued to tumble, this month by 2 percent," said BRC Chief Executive, Helen Dickinson. "For the last two years and eight months, customers have been able to fill their baskets, whether virtual or physical, and pay less for their goods than the year before."

"This is an incredible run of good fortune for shoppers who’ve been preoccupied with picking up presents for family and friends, as well as themselves ahead of the holiday season. With retailers continuing to invest in price, relatively low commodity prices and intense competition a hallmark of the industry, we can expect falling prices to continue in the medium term."

"A number of key commodities in the retail supply chain (in particular, oil which is now trading under 40 US dollars per barrel) have fallen dramatically recently and the impact of these falls will continue to make its way through to shop prices for some time to come."