Retailers turned to discounts to achieve the biggest rise in sales since last June, but were warned that their recovery may not last.
Total retail sales increased by 2.2% last month, a faster pace than the 1.4% rise a year earlier, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, the accountancy firm. The growth also outstripped the three-month and one-year averages of 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively.
On a like-for-like basis, a key industry metric of underlying growth, sales rose by 1.8%, compared with 0.6% in January last year.
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