Drop in online shopping knocks UK retail sales in August

British retail sales unexpectedly fell on the month in August after shoppers bought less online than the month before when major sales promotions encouraged them to splash out, official figures have shown.

Monthly retail sales volumes dipped by 0.2%, the Office for National Statistics said, compared with an average forecast for a flat reading in a Reuters poll of economists and the first fall in three months.

The category of 'non-store retailing' - predominantly online sales dropped by 3.2%, the biggest decline since August 2015 and a month after Amazon held its annual 'Prime Day' promotion which helped boost sales by 7.6% the previous month.

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