Retail stores in the UK

Sales of clothing dropped sharply at the end of the month.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Association, said: "short-term factors such as weather and discounting have an impact on sales, but have not fundamentally changed the feeling of consumers.

Clothing sales

"When we enter the most important trading season of a year, we need optimistic returns.

This requires people to think that they will see some of the current ones next year.

"With the start of the new school year, sales of school uniforms and shoes are excellent. Sales of home accessories, home textiles and toiletries and cosmetics are showing signs of improvement, but consumers' income is being squeezed in an all-round way. Many consumers will continue," said Helen Dickinson, head of KPMG retail.

She said: as we are entering the key selling season of Christmas, the sales prospect may be described as "hopeful".