Retail sales fell by 27% in the first two weeks of the UK's lockdown, resulting in the worst monthly decline on record for the sector overall last month, according to industry figures.
The British Retail Consortium said the coronavirus crisis, which has resulted in deserted high streets throughout the UK, means hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk.
Its figures showed total sales in March fell by 4.3% compared with the same month last year, the worst performance - when stripping out seasonal distortions - since the survey began in 1995.
Yet that masked the even bigger drop of more than a quarter at the end of the survey period - the two weeks to 4 April - largely covering the time after UK went into lockdown on 23 March.
