UK retail sales rebounds 3.4% in Jan after dismal Christmas figures

Last Updated: March 13, 2026

UK retail volume rose 3.4% MoM in January, after it dropped by 3.3% in December.

• The figure increased 0.7% YoY, up from -2.4% the previous month.

The drop in December, originally -3.2% but was later revised to -3.3%, was so abnormal that, outside of the Covid period, there was only one month since 1996 we saw a bigger drop than 3.3% — the 3.6% fall in August 2008, during the financial crisis in that year.

Well, in January we saw another “outliner” number — this time in the opposite direction.

• Since the start of record in 1996, UK hasn’t booked a bigger drop outside of the Covid period.

• Sale volume increased in all sectors except in textile clothing and footwear stores, which was down by 1.4% over the month.
• Sales volumes in department stores shot up by 5.4% while other non-food stores rose 6.2% over the month.