Prices for non-food, including electricals, was 0.3 per cent lower in July than in the same month last year.

For electricals, the drop was even bigger, with prices 3.1 per cent lower than they were at the same stage in 2011. In fact, prices for electricals in July were 1.2 per cent lower than in June – the largest month-on-month fall since December 2008.

This is the sixth month in a row that non-food goods have been cheaper than in 2011, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Nielsen Shop Price Index and it pointed to retailers still discounting to generate sales as the cause.

As BRC director-general Stephen Robertson said: “Great news for customers who have spare money to spend on clothing, electricals and furniture. But many don’t have money available or the confidence to spend, even with prices down.”

Electricals saw deflation slow in the household appliances category, but this was outweighed by accelerating deflation in the audio and visual equipment sectors, according to the index.

Shop price inflation overall, however, was still up (by one per cent) on a year ago, boosted by food prices – albeit having slowed from 1.1 per cent in June.

At market researcher Nielsen, senior manager for retailer services Mike Watkins said that once the summer holiday season had died back, he expected consumers to remain cautious about big-ticket or discretionary spending, which is why, he added, there is no upward pressure on non-food prices at the moment.