High street retailers in the UK have experienced their worst January for 15 years, as bad weather kept shoppers at home.

Research carried out by the British Retail Consortium found UK retail sales values fell 0.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis from January 2009, when sales had risen 1.1 per cent. On a total basis, sales rose 1.2 per cent against a 3.2 per cent increase the previous year.

January’s poor weather had little effect on the growth of the online marketplace however, with non-food, non-store sales up 14.6 per cent during the month. That follows a 26.5 per cent year-on-year increase in December.