New Year's sport supplement buying adds to January retail sales surge

An increase in demand for sports supplements likely driven by New Year's resolutions helped lift retail sales by more than expected to 1.8% in January.

Continuing strong sales from online jewellers after a recent spike in gold prices was a key driver in the increase, as were artwork and antique auctions.

The 1.8% increase in January was the strongest monthly growth since May 2024, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, and much higher than the 0.2% predicted by some economists.

But analysts said the uptick could be temporary, as sales nearly flatlined in the three months to January, and a weak jobs market potentially added to consumer caution.

Sales volumes in non-store retailing, which is mostly online, grew by 3.4% over the month.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said the weather played its part here, pushing people away from the high street and onto their laptops.

She said: "New year health goals also sent many of us who overindulged during the festive period on the hunt for sports supplements as we pushed our bodies back into exercise mode."

News headlines about record gold and silver prices also helped lift sales for online jewellers in particular, she added.

Sales volumes in the "other non-food stores" category saw the biggest increase in percentage terms, rising 5.3% over the month.

The ONS said this was partly driven by auctions of artwork and antiques, which analysts said could also be linked to soaring gold prices.

But Hewson cautioned that the monthly rise should be taken with "a big pinch of salt", citing ONS figures showing sales volumes grew by just 0.1% in the three months to January, compared with the three months to October 2025.

"It's clear consumers are still under pressure and still making complicated decisions about where to spend every penny," she said.

Separate ONS data released this week put unemployment at a near five-year high at the end of last year, with wage growth also slowing to 4.2%.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the surge in sports supplement sales suggested that "the new year resolution health-kick has made the economy look more healthy".

"But with employment growth weak and wage growth slowing, households won't be able to maintain this rate of spending," he added.