All sub-sectors fell over the month, with strong downward contributions from department stores, clothing and footwear retailers and furniture stores, an ONS release said.

These fell by 0.1 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) and by 0.2 per cent year on year (YoY) in Q2 2024.

Non-food stores sales volumes, i.e., the total of department, clothing, household and other non-food stores, fell by 2.1 per cent in June, following a rise of 3.3 per cent in May.

Election uncertainty, poor weather and low footfall affected sales, UK retailers said.

When comparing the Q2 2024 figure with that of Q1, non-food stores sales volumes fell by 0.5 per cent.

The amount spent online fell by 2.7 per cent MoM during June, but rose by 2.3 per cent YoY.

As total spend, the sum of in-store and online sales fell by 1.3 per cent MoM and the proportion of sales being made online decreased from 27.5 per cent in May (revised from 27.2 per cent) to 27.1 per cent in June.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)