Retail sales fell by 0.6% year-on-year in January, according to the Office for National Statistics, which reported it as the first time year-on-year growth had halted in the sector since August 2011 - in total contrast to a sunnier picture painted by the BRC.
It was small stores in particular who missed out, said the ONS, with the findings showing an overall fall in the volume bought at stores with less than 10 employees.

Heavy snowfall across the country was largely blamed for the shortfall, resulting in larger stores with better accessibility seeing an increase in sales.

It was a different story from the British Retail Consortium, however, which reported earlier this month that sales for January had in fact risen by 3%, marking the highest sales growth for retail since September 2012.

According to the BRC, online sales were up 10.1%, but the ONS' figures reported the increase at 8.7%.

Household goods stores remained stable, according to the ONS, with sales volume down a marginal 0.8% and value down 0.5% compared with January 2012. Non-food stores saw an uptake of 1.7% in quantity and were up 0.8% in the amount spent.

The discrepancy between the two organisation's results is nothing new; this time two years ago the BRC accused the ONS' January sales figures as being "distorted".