UK shoppers are beginning to show signs of feeling the economic pinch.

Leading supermarket chain Asda, returned a second successive quarter of declining profits on underlying sales, prompting fears that this could be the start of a wider trend, as taxes and fuel costs rise. This comes on the back of the emergency budget, and ahead of the VAT increase at the end of the year.

The Walmart-owned UK supermarket said that sales fell by 0.4 per cent in the quarter ending July 31. This followed a previous quarter drop of 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, the first time Asda fell in underlying sales in the past five years.

Chief executive Andy Clarke took some of the responsibility for the returns, saying the group was not fully focused on their customers, which would hopefully change. The lack of attention to the consumer resulted from Asda dealing with its own budgetary constraints according to Clarke, who added that the supermarket was sticking to its everyday low price philosophy that emphasises fewer promotions and better quality products.

Asda removed one third of its multi-buy offers in the past three months, with staple groceries such as milk, eggs, sugar and bananas all returning lower prices in the past few weeks. Asda trailed its supermarket rivals when it came to sales growth, reporting a 2.9 per cent increase in the three months ending August 12. Morrisons was at 6.9 per cent, with Sainsbury’s improving by 5.9 per cent and Tesco 3.9 per cent.

Sainsbury’s has bucked the economic trend away from spending on new technology.

Investment in technology in the retail industry is set to be stagnant in the UK for the foreseeable future, as most high street stores and supermarket chains brace themselves for another economic downturn.

The austerity budget and impending VAT rise has seen widespread speculation that the industry could be confronted with a period of loss, leading to financial outlays for development of existing technology to be capped as most leading companies say that they have no IT overhauls planned. In some cases, computer systems are up to 20 years as old but are kept on as long as they do the job.

According to a report published last week by Martec International, a leading retail sector consultancy specialist, Tesco is the retailer that seems most content with its incumbent IT system. Their latest upgrade was in 2007 while the yearly spend on IT investment is £200 million. Rival Sainsbury’s spends around £220m per year on IT according to the Martec study, which also reported that UK’s leading supermarket chain is planning on updating its store, e-commerce and supply chain systems next year. The in-house system used by staff, installed first in 1995, will be upgraded the following year.

While Frances Riseley, practice manager at Martec, said that many retailers were hesitant to reveal their IT plans for fear of rivals being alerted to their developments, his group’s survey did establish that 19 per cent of the 142 British retailers polled said the reason for not revealing any details was that they were either being finalised or had not been considered.

The man behind the expansion of Marks and Spencer into India has teamed up with a local competitor.

Mark Ashman, who oversaw the establishment of the joint venture in India between M&S and Reliance Retail, will become the chief executive at Hypercity in the autumn.

Hypercity is a rapidly growing local chain that has since 2006 sold Waitrose products to millions of Indians under an exclusive supply agreement. Waitrose and M&S are already renowned for their UK rivalry, and now the battle has spilled over onto the subcontinent the focus is firmly on India as a producer.  Last year, Mark Price, Waitrose’s chief executive and Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of M&S, became embroiled in a public slanging match over which company’s products were cheaper.

Mr Ashman held the role of chief executive of Marks & Spencer Reliance Retail, which, in collaboration operated 18 stores across India, with 15 more set to open over the next two years. The partnership said that there will be an estimated 50 M&S stores in the country by 2015. Ashram had left his position in April to return to Britain to lead M&S’s European and Middle Eastern operations. He was wished all the best for his new role by his former employers.

Meanwhile, rival Hypercity operates seven hypermarkets across India, with the group being part owned by another of India’s leading retail organisations Shoppers Stop. The country has had its fashion production industry come increasingly under the media spotlight in recent months, as allegations of poor working conditions have led high street retailers such as Next and Gap to launch independent investigations.

National Magazine Company’s Cosmopolitan Magazine and Company Magazine have reported the biggest decreases in readership numbers.

The latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the first half-year shows Cosmopolitan and Company at the head of the declining interest in women’s lifestyle and fashion magazines.

Cosmopolitan recorded circulation of 401,750, which placed it nine per cent down on last year’s period and six per cent down on the second half of 2009. Company recorded circulation of 217,324, which represented a 5.6 per cent fall in year-on-year comparisons and a 9.5 per cent same period-on-period drop. Grazia Magazine returned a flat performance in year-on-year numbers, with a marginal drop of under half a percentage point.

Essentials Magazine was again the biggest upward-mover, growing by 12.9 per cent in the yearly comparisons to reach circulation of 115,432. Woman & Home also rose, with 369,321 meaning yearly growth of 5.5 per cent. Hachette Filipacchi’s Red Magazine, which is edited by the former editor of Cosmopolitan Sam Baker, returned record circulation of 230,067 on the back of 5.2 per cent yearly growth.

Harper’s Bazaar performed strongly, with circulation of 118,553 representing an 8.1 per cent yearly growth, while Good Housekeeping rose by 3 per cent to 422,496. Other leading titles in such as Vogue and Glamour remained on an even par, with Tatler and Vanity Fair both returning minimal improvements.

With the austerity budget and rising VAT set to hit public pockets even further, the industry is bracing itself for a difficult period ahead, although editors remain optimistic that an economic recovery will benefit the market.

Leading fashion retailers H&M and Zara will both go live online in September.

From next month, shoppers who are based outside of the London store range will be able to buy their favourite outfits via the internet as the clothing providers attempt to buck the increasingly dour trends hitting the high street.

Zara, which is owned by the Spanish company Inditex, will launch its new website simultaneously across the UK, Spain, France, Portugal and Italy on September 2, and while they have previously offered a range of homewares online, the revamped website will mark the debut of fashion lines that have in the past been only available in-store. H&M will launch its new online venture a fortnight later, offering men’s, women’s and children’s clothing in addition to their own range of homeware.

The current gloom facing that has beset consumer confidence in the UK and across Europe has led several major retailers to warn that widespread cuts in public sector spending will have a knock-on effect for individual customers. The recent austerity budget from Chancellor George Osborne had created increased worry across the UK over employment and wage prospects, leading to a tightening of the purse strings.

Both Marks & Spencer and Next have warned that consumer spending is likely to be constrained in the coming months as the new coalition government’s emergency budget combines with the rise of VAT at the end of the year to keep customers out of high street shops.