Sales in Scottish shops showed a small improvement last month with the smallest decline for a year.
The 1.3% fall in September was well down from the 2.4% decrease in August and the lowest fall since October last year when a 1.2% fall was recorded.
In September last year the fall was 2.9%. Like-for-like sales decreased by 1.7% on last September, when they were down by 4.2%.
Adjusted for deflation measured by the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, total Scottish sales increased by 0.7%, the fastest growth since August last year barring Easter distortions.
Total food sales were 3.6% down on September last year, when they had decreased 2.4%. Adjusted for the estimated effect of online sales, total non-food sales increased by 1.9% over September last year.
David Martin, head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium, said September was an upbeat month especially in the non-food categories, although the retail figures were up against a soft comparable period.
“Excluding Easter distortions Scottish sales achieved their best performance since October 2014.
“Adjusting for inflation we saw the fastest sales growth since August 2014.
“Driving much of the buoyancy in September was non-food categories including clothing and footwear.
“Unlike other parts of the UK, Scottish sales growth was not positively distorted by a Bank Holiday.
“Furniture and home categories also performed well in September as students, returning for the new semester, kitted up on essentials.”
He added: “Looking ahead, the trading environment remains challenging for retailers not least in terms of the excessive burden of Government-imposed operating costs.
“They will be hoping to capitalise on improvements in consumer confidence in the lead up to the Christmas period.”
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: “September saw better sales figures but retailers will not be getting carried away.”
The gap was widening against the rest of the UK where September sales were up 3.9%, and he said retailers in Scotland can expect a lot of hard work to achieve a reasonable Christmas season.
Meanwhile, McColl’s Retail Group has announced plans to sell 100 of its less profitable newsagents in the UK as the retailer switches to convenience stores.
It is thought some of the units may be in Tayside and Fife although this could not be confirmed on Tuesday.
McColl’s is looking to offload the stores to independent retailers.