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According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for retail sales rose 0.9% between December 2011 and January 2012, a much stronger figure than forecasted by economists, who expected to see sales fall.

The report displayed strong sales in furniture and sports good, spurned by the heavy discounts in these areas over the Christmas/January sale period.

Kate Davies, head of UK Retail at ONS said, "All sectors are experiencing some growth when you look year-on-year. In particular the household goods sector has risen from where it was previously, it's ended a long run of contraction”.

"The most prominent driver behind this growth comes from the non-store retailing sector [mail order and internet] but also from food stores and clothing stores," she said.

However some economists say the latest figures are disguising deeper lying issues. Samuel Tombs of Capital Economics said that; "January's strong growth goes against the much more pessimistic picture painted by anecdotal evidence and all of the retail surveys."

He went on to add that, "The rise was partly driven by a strong 4.8% monthly rise in household goods sales, which just seemed to be a bounce back after several months of falls”

He continued that in general unemployment is on the upward trend, with credit conditions becoming more difficult and incomes being tightened. Consumers are still having a hard time.

The figures from the ONS told of ecommerce sales being responsible for 12% of total sales, an improvement on the 9% seen in January 2011.

The report also states that prices in stores have risen 2.2% higher than last year, the slowest rate since Nov 2009.

Another report from PricewaetrhouseCoopers (PwC) compiled by the Local Data Company, stated that all is still not well on the high street, and stores are still seeing shops come and go frequently, with some of the closing stores even being amongst the largest retail giants. On average 14 stores a day closed across the UK in 2011.

It has been reported that booksellers and electrical shops suffered the most, having faced serious competition from the growing number of online retailers, many offering competitive prices on products, with free shipping.

Interestingly, the PwC report discovered that although much of the high street is still suffering in the current economic climate, it is charity shops, pound shops, shoe shops, bakers and convenience stores that are on the rise.

This unexpected growth helped reduce the net loss of stores to 174, which is down 0.25% on 2010.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17071793