Retail sales in Britain drop 0.8%

LONDON - Retail sales in Britain decreased by 0.8 percent in February as compared to the previous month, but increased 1 percent compared with the same period last year, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday.

Sales volumes were driven by non-store retailing, predominantly food stores and non-specialised stores. Internet retail also posted a big rise in sales, accounting for 10.7 percent of the country's retail sales. Food stores accounted for 41.7 percent of total sales.

Non-store retailing posted an increase of 9.2 percent in February as compared with the same month in 2011, while sales went up 8.6 percent year on year, with 1.4 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) being spent in the sector.