January sees 'unexpected' rise in retail sales

Retail sales rose by 0.7% between December and January, official statistics have shown.

The rise, reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), was higher than experts had predicted, and was driven by strong textiles, clothing and footwear sales - which together saw a 6.1% increase last month.

However, due to unprecedented discounts during the Christmas and New Year period, the value of non-food sales fell by 1.6% in the three months to January. Department stores were especially affected, seeing values drop by 2.6%.

But food shop values rose by 1% in January after prices stabilised.

Commenting on the figures, British Chambers of Commerce chief economist David Kern cautioned: "These better-than-expected retail sales figures may still be distorted by heavy end-of-year discounting.

"Nevertheless, they show a possible resilience in consumer spending which needs to be nurtured.

"The underlying recession remains serious and without continued corrective action there is a risk that any improvement will fizzle out."