Retail sales crept up in January following four months of falling

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) sales volumes rose by 1.7% during January 2025, following a 0.6% fall in December, and index levels reached their highest since August last year. 

Food retailers performed most stongly in January with sales sales volumes up by 5.6%, representing the largest rise since March 2020 and putting index levels at their highest since June 2023.

The uptick follows four consecutive month-on-month falls, ending in ending in December 2024 when index levels were their lowest since April 2013.

According to the ONS, supermarkets, specialist food stores like butchers and bakers, and alcohol and tobacco stores all rose, with retailers suggesting that the increase was down to more people eating at home in January.

The broader retail landscape revealed mixed results. Online retailer sales volumes rose 2.4% on the month, representing a partial rebounding from a 3.4% fall in December 2024, while non-food store sales fell 1.3% due to reduced consumer confidence, according to the ONS. 

The amount spent online fell by 1.7% over the month to January 2025, and dropped by 4.8% when looking at the three months prior. However, sales values rose by 0.8% when comparing January 2025 with January last year. 

Total spend, which is the sum of in-store and online sales, rose by 2.6% over the month and the proportion of sales made online fell from 26.9% in December 2024 to 25.7% in January.

Sales volumes rose by 1.0% over the year to January 2025, but when compared with pre-Covid levels in February 2020, sales are still down by 1.3%.