Increased consumer spending cheered retailers

Shoppers in Scotland gave retailers some New Year cheer with an increase in sales, according to statistics.

Overall sales increased by 5.1% last month, the highest level since October.

The Scottish Retail Sales Monitor figures suggest like-for-like sales, which exclude the impact of new outlets, rose by 3.4%, also outstripping December's increase of 3%.

The statistics, which compare sales for the equivalent period the previous year, were hailed as "distinctly encouraging" by economists.

'Driving force'

They said the sharp rises of last winter were giving way to more sustainable increases.

However, they also showed a reversal of the trend of the last two months in which sales north of the border were ahead of the rest of the UK.

In the UK overall, total sales leapt from a 4.1% increase in December to 6.8% in January, while growth in like-for-like sales increased from 1.7% to 2.7%.

Jeremy Peat, chief economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "These results are distinctly encouraging.

Scottish shoppers responded to the seasonal bargains Fiona Moriarty Scottish Retail Consortium

"They suggest both that Scottish consumers have continued to boost spending and that spending trends now appear to be at more sustainable levels of increase.

"While the international environment remains problematic, the Scottish economy remains reliant upon consumers and government to provide the driving force for growth."

Fiona Moriarty, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said consumers' eye for a bargain had boosted sales.