Prices in British shops have fallen for the first time in almost three years, driven by heavy markdowns as clothing retailers attempt to sell off summer stock.
Prices declined year-on-year by 0.3 per cent in August, down from an inflationary rate of 0.2 per cent in the previous month, according to numbers from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ.
It is the lowest rate since October 2021, when prices rose after a post-Covid spending spree, supply shortages and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said the fall had been driven by non-food retailers “discounting heavily to shift their summer stock, particularly for fashion and household goods. This discounting followed a difficult summer of trading caused by poor weather