Washington - Retail sales in the United States plunged in December as holiday shoppers cut back in a recession and ignored big sales incentives, the Commerce Department said in its initial estimate Wednesday.

Sales tumbled to 343.2 billion dollars, down 9.8 per cent compared to December 2007 and down 2.7 per cent from November, worse than economists expected.

US retailers have suffered their worst holiday shopping season in decades, failing to lure in shoppers despite offers of savings and other incentives ahead of Christmas.

The December figures represented the sixth consecutive monthly fall in sales, the longest stretch since 1992. Sales between October and December plunged 7.7 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. dpa