In a comparison to January last year, retail sales have risen 1.6% as people took advantage of the January sales and bought more items such as exercise equipment.
With a rise of 0.2% food sales grew showing its best performance since February 2014, while non-food sales had an uplift of 2.7% as the shops continued to benefit from the January sales.
In a statement Helen Dickinson BRC director general said: "Retail sales have continued to grow with January reporting a respectable 1.6% increase. Looking into the numbers a little more closely gives us even more cause for optimism - last year retailers had a bumper January so to see growth against such a tough comparison shows the industry to be in rude health. Customers were offered attractive bargains on winter ranges but it remains to be seen at what cost to the retailers’ margins.”
Figures show that since January 2014 online sales of non-food products have grown by 11.7%.
