by Trevor Sturgess

Snow hit shop sales in January with the lowest growth rate in 15 years.

According to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor, UK retail sales values fell 0.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis from January 2009, although total sales edged up 1.2 per cent. But this was much weaker than the 3.2 per cent rise in January 2009.

While the big freeze boosted food sales in the first week of January as people stocked up on essentials; non-food and discretionary items were off the shopping list. When the weather improved, food sales slowed while non-food staged a partial recovery. Over the month, food, clothing and footwear showed gains on a year ago, but sales of homewares and furniture declined.

However, online, mail-order and telephone sales were 14.6 per cent higher than a year ago. Non-store suppliers benefited from the snowy conditions as shoppers forced to stay indoors bought online instead.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium said: “An awful start to the year and in stark contrast to an upbeat December. This is the worst January growth in total sales in the 15 years we’ve been running the survey. It was a month of two halves with a focus on must-haves early on.

“The coldest January since 1987 boosted food sales at the start of the month, as shoppers stocked up. But food sales growth melted with the snow. The month as a whole was significantly weaker than December."

He said that restoration of the Vat rate to 17.5 per cent brought some sales forward to December, but customers were becoming cautious again in the face of economic and political uncertainty.