British retail started the new year with solid sales growth. In January, revenues increased by 1.9 percent compared to the previous month, as the statistics office ONS announced on Friday in London. Analysts’ expectations were exceeded. However, the gain follows a weak performance in December. The pre-corona level of February 2020 was clearly exceeded at the start of the year.
Sales outside of the food trade rose sharply, particularly at petrol stations. Grocery sales, however, declined. The share of online trade has continued to decline due to the less tense corona situation, but its share of total sales is still significantly higher than before the pandemic began. In January, its market share was a good 25 percent, before the crisis it was almost 20 percent. (dpa)