The earlier Easter, together with extremely unseasonal weather and school holidays spread across several weeks, make comparisons difficult, but retailers would have been hoping that Easter would have led to a year-on-year increase in sales.

Food sales slowed after two strong months and clothing and footwear were the worst for at least eight years. Homewares and furniture fell further, despite continued discounting and promotions.

The survey concludes that consumer confidence has fallen further to new lows. With increasing demands on household budgets, shoppers are very price-conscious and reluctant to spend on big-ticket items. Heavy discounting was still needed to tempt customers to buy.

Stephen Robertson, the new director general of the BRC said: “This is the first year-on-year fall in like-for-like sales for two years and the worst result for nearly three years. Here is the strongest evidence yet that customers are making serious economies and are increasingly concerned about the future. With recent retail profit warnings, it is further proof that trading is extremely tough but retailers are fighting back by keeping prices low and delivering extra value.

And Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG, said: "Given the timing of Easter, one thing we expected was this month's figures to be strong. Instead, we have the worst monthly performance since July 2005. Retailers were hit by the double whammy of an early Easter and poor weather even before factoring in the slowdown in consumer spending on the back of rising inflation, falling house prices and the impact on consumer confidence of the credit crisis."

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