British retailers saw the amount of goods they sold drop last month at its fastest rate in three years as under-pressure families shifted part of their Christmas shop to earlier in the year.Sales volumes dipped by 3.2% in December, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested on Friday, down from a rise of 1.4% a month before.The ONS said that there was some evidence that customers had done more Christmas shopping than usual in November, taking advantage of Black Friday sales in

British retailers saw the amount of goods they sold drop last month at its fastest rate in three years as under-pressure families shifted part of their Christmas shop to earlier in the year.Sales volumes dipped by 3.2% in December, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested on Friday, down from a rise of 1.4% a month before.The ONS said that there was some evidence that customers had done more Christmas shopping than usual in November, taking advantage of Black Friday sales in some cases.