Retail sales volumes fell in August, according to data, with rising prices and the cost of living affecting volumes.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), sales fell by 1.6% in August, continuing the downward trend since the summer of last year, although they did rise 0.4% in July.
All the main sectors - food stores, non-food stores, non-store retailing and fuel - all fell in August, the first time that has happened since July 2021, when all legal restrictions on hospitality were lifted.
Non-store retailing, which covers online retailers, experienced the biggest fall of 2.6%, although this was still above pre-pandemic levels of February 2020 by 24.4%.
Non-food store sales fell 1.9% over the month due to declines in all of its sub-sectors, such as clothing, household goods and department stores.
Automotive fuel sales fell by 1.7%, while food store volumes were down by 0.8% last month.