It looks like turning into a long but not so hot summer for British retailers, with the latest batch of sales figures painting a picture of a struggling economy.
With a weak growth figure of just 0.2 per cent in the quarter between April and June, following six months of static movement, several leading financiers are now predicting that the country could slip back into recession.
Confidence among companies which arrange and carry out the shipping of goods is at its lowest for a year, suggesting that early summer sales had failed to persuade people to loosen their purse strings, the Reuters news agency reported.
"Given the importance of consumer spending, this immediately fuels concerns over growth prospects in the third quarter," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
People are especially cutting back on their grocery spending, the official figures suggested, with efforts by supermarkets to attract interest through such tactics as mounting smart window displays and erecting banner stands having little effect on cautious buyers.
