The consumers will soon be affected by the tax rises and budget cuts, a recent report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests. The UK retail sales have reportedly fallen by 0.5% from July, the report explains. This fall has come as a surprise ever since January.

John Lewis, Kesa and Kingfisher, the three retailers had already put forth that there was a probability for the High Street conditions to worsen. With the non-food stores being driven by the household goods store to a large extent, the sales are said to have seen downfall by 0.7%.

Vicky Redwood, at Capital Economics said, "Augusts’ fall in retail sales could be the first sign that the surprising resilience of consumer spending recently could be coming to an end”.

The ONS put forth a decline in food stores by as much as 0.5%. Also, it is being said that the consumers were getting more and more cautious following the Government's austerity drive, January's planned VAT hike to 20% and some concerns over job prospects.

John Lewis is said to have made profits on sales, in the six months to 31 July by 12.4% to £3.8bn, which means a profit of almost £110.5m.

Charlie Mayfield, Chief Executive also concluded that the some challenges were being anticipated for the coming year and the remaining years as well.