Andy Clarke of Asda can be forgiven for feeling somewhat smug. At the weekend, he hailed the Walmart-owned supermarket chain’s strategy of boycotting Black Friday as “one of the best decisions we’ve made this year”.

Retail sales figures for the month of November, released on Tuesday, show he has every right to congratulate himself.

Despite the hype surrounding the US-inspired discount shopping day, like-for-like sales were down last month, falling 0.4 per cent on the previous year, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.

The overall value of goods sold, including contributions from new stores, was ahead by a lacklustre 0.7 per cent, well down on the 1.7 per cent average growth rate over the past 12 months.

The pattern of spending also showed shoppers held back from making purchases in the early part of the month but loosened the purse strings when the Black Friday discounts came in. Other spending indicators underlined the trend, with Barclaycard data showing sharp slowdowns in spending in the first three weeks of November, particularly in DIY products, electrical goods and furniture.

Far from the spending frenzy predicted on Black Friday, many stores were quieter than usual, as shoppers went online to snap up bargains. Online sales last month rose to a record 22.4 per cent of all nonfood sales, up from 20.3 per cent the previous year.

Having stocked up specially – and taken on extra security to maintain order in the aisles – retailers are now carrying the burden of too much stock and higher costs.

Reality check

November’s disappointing figures are “a reality check” for the retail sector, according to David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG. And the BRC’s Helen Dickinson says the build-up to Christmas is “one of the hardest to read in years”. The conversion of the consumer’s higher disposable income into spending this year, thanks to increased wages after years of decline, “shouldn’t be taken for granted”, she warned.

It’s still possible shoppers will be out on the High Street in force as Christmas nears, particularly once it’s too late to be sure of online deliveries.

There’s always a game of chicken between shopper and retailer at Christmas, as consumers delays purchases until the last minute in the hope of bigger bargains. The fact Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year means the final week will be even more nerve-racking than usual.

As for Andy Clarke, it appears he intends to press home his advantage over rival retailers battered by their Black Friday washouts, and he appears confident Asda has the firepower to launch some eye-catching offers over the next few crucial weeks.

In the City of London, a 73-storey tower is to be built to rival the Shard as Europe’s tallest building.

Unlike recent additions to London’s skyline, such as the Cheesegrater on Leadenhall Street and the Walkie Talkie on nearby Fenchurch Street, the new tower at 1 Undershaft is a conventional rectangular construction.

“I wanted to do something that isn’t flamboyant,” said architect Eric Parry, who describes the 309.6m building as “the final piece of the jigsaw” of the City of London skyline. Its base will be raised by 10m to create a public piazza beneath the building with shops and restaurants.

The public space will link two historic City churches, the 16th-century St Andrew Undershaft and the 12th-century St Helen’s Bishopsgate, the largest surviving parish church in London’s financial district.

Tallest building

Like the Cheesegrater, the proposed new building will have a viewing platform, which will be free to the public. It will also have an education centre for use by schools, and a restaurant.

The height of the Undershaft tower is the maximum allowed in the City under Civil Aviation Authority regulations, and exactly matches that of the Shard, just south of the Thames at London Bridge. However, the Undershaft tower will take the title of the tallest building in the City.

Its conventional design is proving a problem for those who like to name London’s towers – the Rectangle doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the Shard or the Gherkin.

But one aspect of its functional design stands out: because it has been raised from the ground, large X-shaped metal struts are needed to brace its outer glass walls. The effect is similar to a garden trellis, hence the Trellis is one possibility. Fiona Walsh is business editor of theguardian.com