SRC - Scottish retail's worst January for four years.
Like-for-like sales in January were 0.6% lower than in January 2009, when they had risen 2.0%. Total sales in January were 2.8% up on a year ago.
January's like-for-like sales fall was the same as November's, after a Christmas uplift in December. Food sales growth slowed and non-food sales dropped back below their year-earlier level.
Food sales benefited from the snow as people stocked up but then slowed later in the month. The coldest January since 1979 also boosted clothing and footwear, but homewares and discretionary items fell back as people concentrated on essentials in the wintry weather.
Like-for-like sales growth was only marginally better than that in the UK, having been worse than in the UK since September. UK sales were 0.7% lower than in January 2009, when they had risen 1.1%, less than the 2.0% increase in Scotland.
