UK retail sales recorded their first year-on-year decline since 2013 last month, despite solid growth in volumes from September, as households battled with fast-rising prices.
The Office for National Statistics said October's 0.3% year-on-year fall in sales volumes was the biggest since March 2013 and reflected a very strong performance by retailers in October 2016.
Looking at the three months to October, which smooths out monthly volatility in the data, sales growth picked up to 0.9% from 0.7% in the three months to September.
Compared with a year earlier, however, sales volumes in the three months to October were just 1.1% higher than the year before, the weakest growth rate since May 2013.
"We are continuing to see an underlying picture of steady growth in retail sales, although this October suffered in comparison with a very strong October in 2016," the ONS said.
Sales in October were stronger than economists had forecast in a Reuters poll, which on average predicted sales would drop 0.6% on the year and grow just 0.1% on the month.
The ONS said monthly sales in fact rose by 0.3%.
When the Bank of England raised interest rates on November 2, it forecast real-terms household consumption growth would slow to 1% next year from 1.5% predicted for this year as demand shifted towards business investment and exports.
Official data earlier this week showed that consumer price inflation held at a five-year high of 3% in October, while regular pay in the three months to September was 0.5% lower in real terms than in 2016 - the longest run of falls in almost three years.
Today's figures show that food prices are rising at their fastest rate in four years.
Last week supermarket group Sainsbury's reported slower quarterly sales growth and a drop in first-half profit, while Marks & Spencer said it faced stronger headwinds for food sales, as weak consumer spending and intense competition took their toll.
Private-sector surveys have also given a downbeat message on last month's retail spending.
The Confederation of British Industry reported the biggest year-on-year fall in sales since 2009, while the British Retail Consortium said October spending fell by the most since 2008.
The ONS said today that retail sales growth in cash terms slowed to an annual 2.8% in October, down from 4.6% in September and the weakest since June 2016.
The gauge of inflation used in the retail sales data, the retail price deflator, dropped to 3.1% in October from 3.3% in September, the ONS added.
