According to the report from Office for National Statistics, in the three months to January 2019, the quantity bought increased by 0.7% when compared with the previous three months.

The monthly growth rate in the quantity bought increased by 1.0% in January 2019, following a decline of 0.7% in December 2018. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase

Year-on-year growth in the quantity bought in January 2019 was 4.2% - the highest since December 2016 and more than the 3.4% rise economists had a forecast - while year-on-year average store prices slowed to 0.4%, the lowest price increase since November 2016.

The quantity bought in textile, clothing and footwear stores showed strong year-on-year growth at 5.5% as stores took advantage of the January sales, with a year-on-year price fall of 0.9%.

As food store prices experienced a general slowdown throughout 2018, the quantity bought in January 2019 returned to the strong growth experienced in the summer months at 3.2%. Online sales as a total of all retailing decreased to 18.8% in January 2019, from the 19.8% reported in December 2018.