Retail Figures Remain Strong

Retail Figures Remain Strong.

Despite predictions that retail sales would drop in March due to Easter holidays falling in April, sales remained strong with a 0.1% rise compared with February.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 4.2% increase in the number of sales compared with a year earlier.

Extreme weather was being linked to the decrease in sales from last year, however this is still a good sign for retail sales. Last year saw March, at the second coldest since records started and this year March was considerably warmer leading to more people heading out to the high street.

Non-food sales saw the best year on year sales rise since 2002.

Amongst the data that the ONS has released was also the figures for the first quarter of 2014, which showed a 3.8% increase compared with the first 3 months of 2013.