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According to Richard Dodd, head of media and campaigns at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the latest data is "good news", but conditions still remain difficult and concerns about rising unemployment are likely to affect the willingness of consumers to spend.
He explained that the timing of Easter and recent sunny weather may have put people in a "spring frame of mind" to purchase seasonal items and is not necessarily indicative of "a fundamental change in customers' attitudes".
"The chances are the extra spending we've seen in the last couple of months will turn out to be a seasonable blip," Mr Dodd predicted.
Nationwide's consumer confidence index rose by two points in May to 53, while the percentage of those expecting that the current situation will worsen over the next six months fell from 32 per cent in April to 28 per cent last month.
