Retail sales in 2020 saw the largest annual fall in history as retailers continued to suffer from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite a 0.3% rise in sales volumes during December, the figure for 2020 as a whole saw sales down 1.9%, with clothing sales slumping by more than a quarter.
The slight rise in December was far less than the 1.2% increase expected by economists and left sales 2.9% higher than a year earlier, according to the official figures.
Spending online, however, surged by 46.1% in 2020.
The UK economy has been harder-hit than any other advanced country during the coronavirus pandemic – in November the economy shrank by 2.6% mainly thanks to a four-week lockdown in England and similar measures in other parts of the UK.
With non-essential retail still closed under government rules, most economist expect a further contraction in the next financial quarter.