High street chains suffered their toughest January in four years, as shoppers opted to instead shop online in a trend continuing from the Christmas period. Like-for-like sales in this period fell by 0.1%, marking the first decline in these sales since 2013, and following on from a poor December which saw sales decrease by 0.1% also. These trends have exacerbated the uncertainty regarding the coming year, in addition to the rising costs due to inflation and the tumultuous political climate. Thankfully for retailers, the weak pound drawing in visitors from overseas to purchase luxury goods in particular put a fair amount of money back into the high street.