While people purchased more products via safe shopping online this month, the UK’s retail sector is still at a low ebb, with consistent monthly dips in spending of this kind not seen for eight years.

This is according to a study from the CBI which found that while June saw no growth in e-commerce activity, July did manage to spark an uptick in spending, presumably as a result of the warmer weather and the preparations many consumers were making for the holiday season.

Department stores, fashion retailers and even florists were amongst the bricks-and-mortar retailers to see the sharpest decline in sales over the past 30 days.

Report spokesperson Rain Newton-Smith said that one of the factors making the current slide in overall retail sales look even worse was the fact that 2018’s summer season was comparatively strong. She also said that the high street was suffering setbacks in spite of the fact that British households have seen a rise in average earnings thanks to solid wage growth.

Newton-Smith concurred with other experts by arguing that the UK now faces two possible paths forwards in the run-up to the Brexit deadline in October: one of hope and prosperity; the other of economic woe and further setbacks. She said that it would be down to the Prime Minister to ensure that the correct course was taken.

Just a quarter of the retailers covered by the study said that they had seen a rise in sales volumes this month, with two-fifths stating that levels had fallen over the same period.

The market is likely to remain on its current downward trajectory until more can be done to clear up the uncertainty surrounding the nation’s future, both politically and economically.