YEAR-on-year growth in UK retail sales value accelerated sharply to 3% in January, from 1.5% in December, according to industry figures, which provide some light amid the wider economic gloom.
The year-on-year sales growth, reported by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), is the fastest since last September.
Food sales were strong in January, according to the BRC, and technology items such as tablet computers and high-end smartphones were also in demand, as well as juicers.
The strong year-on-year growth in total retail sales value for January as a whole was achieved in spite of heavy snow in many parts of the UK during the month.
However, the BRC highlighted the part which discounting likely played in the strong January sales.
Edinburgh-based David McCorquodale, head of the UK retail practice of accountancy firm and BRC survey sponsor KPMG, said: "It's a strong start to what is anticipated to be a tough year for the sector.
"Many retailers will be pleased with their sales campaigns as 2013 roared into life, producing double-digit (percentage) sales increases in several categories in the first week."
However, he added: "Sadly, a blanket of snow mid-month slowed the charge as payday approached."
News of the better January sales follows disappointing figures recorded by the BRC for the key trading month of December.
The BRC had noted a month ago that retail sales volumes in December were flat year-on-year, taking into account annual shop-price inflation which the industry body calculated at around 1.5%.
In December, the value of sales north of the Border was also up just 1.5% on the same month of 2011 – according to figures published by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC).
This indicated retail sales volumes were flat year-on-year in Scotland, as well as in the UK as a whole, in December. The SRC will publish Scottish retail sales figures for January next week.
Mr McCorquodale, highlighting the part which promotional activity had played in driving sales in the food sector last month, said: "Targeted promotional campaigns from the grocers fighting for market share helped drive strong January food sales."
Commenting on the general picture, he added: "Many retailers will look back at the last two months with pride, after implementing successful seasonal campaigns where they have served the customer well."
However, he cautioned: "Sales are only one side of the equation, and time will soon reveal the true cost of the promotions and (profit) margin squeezes used to drive these sales."
Although he cited this pressure on margins, he said of the January retail sales figures: "It is encouraging to see such positive results in what is traditionally a challenging month."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article