Retail sales dipped in September as a perfect storm of supply chain challenges and lower consumer demand dented performance. 

The amount spent with retailers during the month, excluding fuel, declined 0.2% year on year, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

However, compared to pre-pandemic levels recorded in February 2020, sales values excluding fuel were up 6.4%.

On a volume basis, sales excluding fuel dropped 2.6% year on year during September but grew 4.4% compared to February 2020.

The latest decline means sales volumes have fallen every month since non-essential retail reopened in April 2021, marking the longest sustained period of decline since the ONS began tracking data in February 1996. 

Demand was dented in several non-food categories during September, with furniture and lighting stores suffering a 14.8% slump in sales volumes month on month. 

Household goods stores booked a decline of 9.3%, while other non-food stores such as toy retailers, stores specialists and chemists reported a 1.7% fall in sales volumes during the month. 

Clothing and department stores bucked the trend, however, registering sales volume uplifts of 4.3% and 0.2% respectively in September.

Online sales fell 2.3% year on year and have now declined for four consecutive months as retailers struggle to attract lockdown levels of ecommerce spend. 

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said retailers would be “concerned by the slump in sales” as they head into the crucial golden quarter. 

Dickinson said: “For the sake of the UK’s economic recovery, it is vital that retail sales bounce back as we near the festive season. Labour shortages across the supply chain, on farms, in factories, warehouses and lorry drivers, all threaten to derail this recovery and it is vital that government finds a long term solution to this problem. 

“Labour shortages, alongside higher energy, commodity, and transport costs, are all putting pressure on prices, with three in five retailers warning of higher prices before Christmas.”