Retail sales tumble by nearly 2%

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The fall in volumes between January and February was far worse than expected by economists and comes as sales fell across all sectors, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It said clothing and footwear sales dropped by 3.7%, while sales in other stores, mainly small businesses selling goods such as books and DVDs, suffered their worst decline since January 2005.

It is thought that heavy snowfall across the UK early in February may have impacted sales volumes, which fell 0.4% when compared with February 2008 - the worst fall in more than 13 years.

However, the value of sales revealed an even worse picture for battered non-food retailers, with a 5.8% fall year-on-year marking the steepest decline since the series began in 1986.

The gloomy figures came as Next and B&Q owner Kingfisher also reported tumbling annual profits.

Next said profits fell 14% and warned of a difficult 2009 amid the recession and cost implications of a weak pound.

DIY giant Kingfisher saw profits at B&Q in the UK slump by £25 million as it was hit by sliding sales of kitchen and bathroom ranges.

However, the ONS figures suggested food stores are faring marginally better, with sales volumes dipping into negative territory by 0.3% month-on-month and 0.6% compared with February 2008.

By value, food stores sales rose 4.9% compared with a year earlier in another indication of higher food prices.