Shoppers stayed on their sofas and hunted for online bargains rather than hitting high street stores in March’s inclement weather.

Figures from Barclaycard and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) confirmed a picture of poor sales for struggling traditional retailers. In the three months to March, in-store sales of non-food products declined by 4pc on a like-for-like basis, BRC found.

In total, spending grew by 2pc year-on-year in March, a fall from 3.8pc in February and the lowest level of growth since April 2016, according to a separate Barclaycard report.

The numbers offered little hope for firms facing tough trading conditions, such as mother and baby retailer Mothercare and House of Fraser, as the Beast from the East appeared to offset any Easter boost for the high street.

Online retailers saw rising sales across all categories, in sharp contrast with their traditional peers. Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of UK credit and debit purchases, showed that 34pc of consumers said the cold weather drove them to buy less from shops and spend online instead. Overall, expenditure online grew by 11.7pc.