Despite poor sales figures in December last year it isn't much of a surprise that there has been a rise in January. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has announced sales up 1.9% year-on-year saying that the big sellers were tablet computers and smartphones. Big sellers in terms of price it would seem but given the prices of these products it doesn't take much in the way of volume to make an impact on the figures. Of course tablet computers, no-one actually says iPads but that's what most people mean, and smartphones have become Christmas presents for many over recent years. Given the straightened times we are living in I wonder just how many people received IOUs in their Christmas stockings with loved ones waiting to see if they could get a better deal in the January sales?
It's never possible to determine which way the economy is going based on one set of figures and this is no different. The retail industry should not be getting excited about his, February and March will be back to their poor standards of recent years. Maybe shopping at HMV, Blockbuster and Jessops ahead of their closures might help things pick up a little but it's hardly likely. Look at all the indicators as a whole and the outlook for the UK economy is far from rosy.
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