Despite buoyant retail sales figures, retail recruitment will remain lean and mean, according to Maureen Hinton, lead retail analyst at Verdict Research.

Latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountant KPMG show that British retailers saw their best October for sales since 2002, while like-for-like growth was 3.8%, compared with the same period in 2008.

Hinton told Recruiter: “I don’t think these figures make a huge amount of difference. There was a very weak comparator of last October where everything dropped off a cliff. You will need to look at several months in the future.

“I don’t think it will  make a difference to the way they will recruit staff. I think it is still a case of keeping lean and mean and focusing on front line staff. They are managing their plans very tightly.”