Retail sales recover in February

Small businesses operating in the retail sector will be relieved to hear that sales recovered in February after suffering a disappointing January as a result of severe wintery conditions.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) sales saw an overall increase of 4.5% against growth of 0.1% when compared with February the previous year.

Non-food sectors saw the strongest growth in the first week of February. The Director General of the BRC, Stephen Robertson, believes that this is a result of postponed January purchases due to the snowy conditions:

"The growth is compared with very weak figures a year ago when February saw the worst of last winter's weather and this February's performance was helped by sales postponed from January - particularly sales of non-food items such as homewares and fashion."

The report also revealed that online and telephone based sales also benefited from improved weather conditions in February, seeing a jump of 15.5% when compared to February the previous year.

In spite of growth in the retail sector Mr Robertson warned that although consumer confidence is up on this time last year, unemployment is on the rise again. He added: “when the weather-related distortions are stripped away, it's clear customers are still cautious."