Total retail sales had a real spring in their step in January, putting on the strongest growth since March 2010.
New figures from the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor show they were up 5.4%, against a 3.0% increase the previous January, while on a like-for-like basis they put on 3.9%. A year earlier they were up 1.9%.

Furniture was January's top performing category, achieving its best growth since April 2006, while what the British Retail Consortium categorises as 'other non-food' was the key contributor to overall growth.

Online sales of non-food products also had an outstanding month, up 19.2% on a year earlier, the best January since 2009.

BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: "Our figures for January show strong growth but a story of two halves. With a record number of people now in work and the continued recovery in the housing market we have seen very strong performances in furniture and other non-food items.

"These figures are better than expected given the continued squeeze on personal finances but official figures show that this is not built on personal debt which remains below pre-recession levels."

She said that retailers had succeeded in tempting January non-food shoppers with sales and promotions. "They also saw strong demand across new ranges, helped by improvements in consumer confidence."

David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, added: "These figures mark a strong start to the year for retailers. Most will take much from the positives and see genuine light at the end of the tunnel. However, behind the scenes some have had to discount heavily to secure these sales and will now be counting the cost of this strategy. Others have genuinely beaten expectations.