The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) hailed a modest rise in sales north of the Border in Black Friday month.
Online purchases took the lion’s share of transactions in the figures produced by the SRC and KPMG which showed a rise when adjusted for deflation.
Actual sales decreased by 0.2% on a like-for-like basis in the four weeks to November 26 compared to the same period of the previous year when they decreased by 2.7%.
Total Scottish sales decreased by 1.5% compared with November 2015, when they had declined by 2.3%.
Adjusted for deflation measured at 1.7% by the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, November sales increased by 0.2% in real terms.
SRC director David Lonsdale welcomed the third successive month of real-terms positive growth in total retail sales, helped by Cyber-weekend.
He added: “These figures demonstrate the importance of the continuing shift towards online shopping, which accounted for over a quarter of all non-food retail sales in November.”
Mr Lonsdale considered it crucial that the Scottish Government’s Budget this week seeks to keep down the cost of living and the cost of doing business.
Inflation reached a two-year high last month, with higher prices for clothing, food and petrol.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation hit a higher-than-expected 1.2% in November, up from 0.9% in October.
The move pushed CPI to its highest level since October 2014 when inflation was 1.3%. Economists had pencilled in a rise of 1.1%.
The Bank of England is expecting inflation to rise 2.8% by the middle of 2018, as the Brexit-hit pound feeds its way into consumer prices.
A Treasury spokesman said the economy remained fundamentally strong.
Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) chief executive Liz Cameron said; “One of the major costs faced by many businesses is business rates and the Scottish Government has a golden opportunity in its Budget this week to tackle rising rates costs and provide a boost to business .”
