The weakest underlying performance by high street and online stores since the depth of the 2008-09 recession provided fresh evidence on Tuesday of a slowdown in the economy.
An unusually warm September, the continued weakness of spending in supermarkets and a dip in the rapid growth of internet sales meant spending dropped sharply last month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.
In its monthly health check conducted jointly with KPMG, the BRC said total sales were 0.8% lower in September 2014 than in the same month a year earlier. The year-on-year drop in consumer spending was the most pronounced since December 2008, apart from months affected by the timing of Easter.
The BRC took comfort from the fact that spending on big-ticket items such as furniture continued to be strong, but the report comes after a slew of recent data pointing to an easing of activity in the second half of 2014.
The Guardian: UK shopping levels fall to lowest since 2008
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