Official figures show that British retail sales rose by more than expected in November as internet shopping surged at its fastest rate in more than a year. The figures suggested consumer demand is still holding up in the face of a housing market slowdown.
The Office for National Statistics said sales rose 0.4% last month, twice the rate predicted by analysts, putting them up 4.4% on the year.
The rise was driven entirely by food stores and the non-store retailing and repair category which includes specialised internet retailers.
The latter rose by a whopping 5.9% - the biggest jump since August 2006 - in a sign that high street stores complaining about poor demand may simply be losing market share to online retailers.
Prices on average, however, for the whole retail sector were 1.3% lower than a year earlier, indicating that retailers are being forced to discount their wares to move stock.
The Bank of England cut interest rates earlier this month to shore up demand and is widely expected to reduce interest rates again in the next few months.
