The ONS figures released yesterday revealed that the Scottish high street is facing a triple threat from a squeeze on household spending, flat-lining sales and higher business rates next year.
The Scottish Conservatives have highlighted that these challenges will only be compounded by raising taxes on consumers.
The ONS figures show that Scots spend almost £50 less per week than the rest of the UK.
Scottish households spend on average £492.30 per week compared to the UK average of £536.80.
The latest Retail Sales Index Scotland also found that sales in Scotland have flat-lined, compared to growth of 0.6 per cent across Great Britain in November 2017.
And, Scottish Government figures show that the average shop will pay an additional £426 in business rates this year.
Scottish Conservative shadow economy secretary Dean Lockhart said:
"Scottish retailers have every right to be nervous about the coming year.
"The triple whammy of increasing business rates, low consumer spending and stagnant sales are all results of the SNPs failed economic strategy.
"The SNP has failed to revitalise the economy and now it is compounding this error by increasing business rates and increasing taxes.
"Once again, the rest of the UK economy is outperforming Scotland.
"The key difference is the SNP."