Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales increased by 1.9% in January, partially offsetting the December drop by 4% (revised from -3.7%). Economists had expected an increase by 1.0%. Given the latest change, sales exceeded the level of February 2020 (before the outbreak of the pandemic) by 3.6%.
Meanwhile, in annual terms, retail sales increased by 9.1% after a decline by 1.7% in December (revised from -0.9%). Consensus estimates suggested an increase by 8.7%.
The ONS reported that sales of non-food products increased by 3.4% compared to December, which was helped by an increase in sales of household goods. Meanwhile, sales of motor fuel increased by 4.1%, partially offsetting December's 5.0% drop, while food sales declined, and were 0.8% below the pre-pandemic level. The share of online retail sales continued to decline and reached the lowest level since March 2020 - 25.3%. However, the share of online retail sales still remains above the level of February 2020 (19.8%).