The high street suffered its worst January in at least 15 years after snow and economic woes hurt sales, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The "awful" start to 2010 followed the strongest December for eight years and dampened hopes of a strong retail recovery as freezing conditions clamped wallets shut on the high street.
But chilly weather provided a boost to food sales at the start of the month and consumers stocked up on frozen and tinned food amid fears over the impact of heavy snowfall.
The heavy snowfall also stopped consumers hitting the shops and discretionary items were scratched off people's shopping lists.
UK sales rose 1.2 per cent on a year earlier in the month, the lowest ever reading for the month since the BRC's Retail Sales Monitor began in 1995.
Same-store sales values fell 0.7 per cent in January compared with the same period last year, which was the worst figure for 14 years. The figures are much lower than economist expectations of total sales growth of 3.3 per cent and like-for-like increases of 0.5 per cent. They are also steeply down from the respective rises of six per cent and 4.2 per cent seen in December.
Severe weather kept shoppers off the high street at the beginning of the month, while the impact of a higher VAT rate and economic uncertainty also saw consumers focus on essentials at the expense of other items.
Stephen Robertson, BRC director general, said: "An awful start to the year and in stark contrast to an upbeat December. This is the worst January sales growth in the 15 years we have been running the survey."
He said the higher rate of VAT at the start of the month had caused some consumers to make their purchases in December, but shoppers were also becoming more cautious "in the face of economic and political uncertainty".
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