Like-for-likes were flat in October as warm weather and supermarket promotions hit sales, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.

UK retail like-for-like sales were flat in October

Food Down

Nothing very positive in the food sales figures, which were down for the sixth month in a row thanks to pressure to bring in discounts and promotions.

There was a slight glimmer of hope from the slowdown in the three-month average decline, but not much to toast as the supermarkets gear up for Christmas.

Aldi and Lidl are likely to set the tone for pricing this Christmas, which won’t do much to reverse this trend.

Clothing Up

With the unseasonal weather continuing into October, transitional products such as light woollens sold better than heavier and pricier cold weather products.

After two months of warmer weather than usual, most fashion retailers continue to sit on high levels of winter stock. Fashion retailers still attempted to encourage customers to snap up winter clothing, with many running more promotional events than usual in October.

Across fashion, women’s clothing reported the slowest growth while children’s products enjoyed the strongest, helped by the strong offer of Halloween costumes across the high street.

Footwear Up

In a month when retailers usually record their peak week for boot sales, this October proved to be a different story with shoes outperforming sluggish sales of boots. Surprisingly, retailers saw a record increase in demand for sandals last month.

As with fashion, footwear retailers ran a series of unplanned promotions to lure in customers, particularly targeting online shoppers. As a result, online sales were critical to the category’s growth in October as store sales posted a fall in sales.

Health and beauty Up

Retailers reported a strong uptake of beauty products in October, with premium brands, celebrity fragrances and new launches all selling particularly well. Customers dressed up for Halloween, which helped drive sales of novelty make-up such as black nail varnish and black lipstick.

Slimming products, stop-smoking items and health supplements all saw strong growth. The interest in Christmas beauty gifts was encouraging.

Furniture Up

Furniture proved to be the winner across all categories and the sector topped the growth ranking table for the second month in a row. Beds and sofas were singled out as among the best performing products.

Toys and baby equipment Up

There was good demand in the baby category this month.

House textiles Up

Strong sales in duvets and bedding products helped the sector record its best performance since January. The second-fastest growing sector in October, house textiles is another area that should benefit from Christmas and the nine-month high certainly bodes well.

Home accessories Up

A good run-up to Christmas for home accessories, which did particularly well with seasonal products and gifts in October. The sector hasn’t come under as much pressure over margins and if gift products continue to do well it should be a happy enough festive period.

Other non-food Up

Household appliances performed well in October, although a slowdown was noted for small kitchen appliances. The new iPad launch helped the computing segment.

Within leisure goods, gaming enjoyed excellent growth again in October, thanks to a flurry of new game releases.

Retailers said that their local stores tended to outperform the large shopping centres in October.