Non-food shop price inflation increased to 1.4% in August from 1.3% in July, the first increase since May, driven by accelerating inflation in the DIY, gardening and hardware category.
Annual inflation in that sector accelerated to 4% last month from 3.6% in July, according to the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index. This was attributed to the glass and tableware category, which reported a sharp rise in its inflation rate, outweighing slowing inflation in the tools and equipment category.

However, overall shop price inflation slowed to 2.7% last month from 2.8% in July, as food inflation slowed to 5% from 5.2%.

Nielsen senior manager for retailer services Mike Watkins said: "With consumer confidence at levels that we last saw at the start of the recession three years ago, retailers have maintained the historically high levels of promotions and this is helping the many households with stretched budgets to save money.

"The good news for shoppers is that many high street and non-food retailers have been holding back on price increases during the summer and, for the second month running, food inflation has slowed at supermarkets."