WIREDGOV

Key Points

• Year-on- year estimates of the quantity bought in the retail industry showed strong growth for the second consecutive month in January 2014, increasing by 4.3%. With store price inflation growth, as measured by the implied price deflator, slowing to 0.2% (the lowest since September 2009), the amount spent in January 2014 increased by 4.4% compared with January 2013.
• Year-on-year there was notable growth in non-food stores (8.0%), where; stores selling household goods increased by 9.8%, the largest year-on-year increase in these stores since July 2007 and; other goods stores increased by 14.8%. However, the growth experienced by both store types was in part a consequence of a weak January 2013 where heavy snowfall during the latter part of this month could have affected sales.
• Looking at the short term picture, the quantity bought in the retail industry fell by 1.5% compared with December 2013. The amount spent decreased by 1.8% in the same period. It must be remembered that month-on-month growth in December 2013 was particularly strong at 2.5%.
• The longer time series, shown in figure 1 of the at a glance section of this bulletin, highlights how despite this month-on-month fall the quantity bought in the retail industry still remains high. The underlying trend in the data as suggested by the three month-on-three month movement increased by 1.1% confirming growth in the retail industry.
• The amount spent online showed a similar pattern to the amount spent in store. Compared with January 2013 the amount spent online increased by 8.9% but fell by 3.3% compared with December 2013.
• The trading period for January covered 29 December 2013 to 1 February 2014 and thus accounted for five weeks. All figures in this bulletin are based on average weekly sales unless otherwise stated.