Shop prices in the United Kingdom were down 1.8 percent on year in October, the British Retail Consortium and Nielsen said on Wednesday, following the 1.9 percent contraction in September.

Food prices were down 0.4 percent on year in October, spurred by a 1.0 percent decline in fresh food prices, after dipping 0.5 percent in September.

Non-food prices tumbled an annual 2.7 percent.

“With the all-important Christmas trading season arriving soon, non-food retailers will need to maintain these lower prices to drive footfall and supermarkets will be working hard to get sales growing again,” said Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen.

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