Bargain hunt boost for the high street

RETAILERS saw a welcome improvement in sales growth in January, following the worst December performance in a decade, a report has found.

But the figures point more towards shoppers’ obsessions with bagging a bargain in store sales, rather than a real improvement, the BRC (British Retail Consortium)-KPMG retail sales monitor cautioned.

Total retail sales increased by 2.2 per cent year-on-year in January, following 0 per cent year-on-year growth the previous month – the worst December performance since 2008.

January’s 2.2 per cent increase in total retail sales was the highest growth since June.

It is also higher than a 1.4 per cent year-on-year increase recorded in January 2018.

UK retail sales increased by 1.8 per cent in January on a like-forlike basis from January 2018.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said the latest figures were “a welcome return to growth this month after December’s disappointing sales figures”. She said: “But while retail discounts helped tempt cautious consumers, there is no guarantee this momentum will continue after the sales have finished.

“And it will not just be brickand-mortar stores looking nervously to the future, as online sales continued to grow below the long term trend.”