Predominantly food stores decreased 0.5%, while non-food stores decreased by 0.7%.
It is the first retail dip since January, but Gemma Lovelock, a retail analyst at TLC Marketing Worldwide, warned against rash judgments and headline grabbing doom-mongering.
"We shouldn't jump to conclusions on the back of one month of negative growth, all the more so as August is traditionally a quiet month for retail sales," she said.
"On a positive note, Christmas is approaching and we are likely to see a rebound in sales as a result."
Despite the 0.5% dip in August, sales volume in the overall three months from June to August rose 1.4%, compared to the previous three months.
Year on year, the volume of retail sales in August was 0.4% higher than in August 2009.
Predominantly food stores decreased 3.5%, while predominantly non-food stores increased 4.6%. Total sales volume in the three months to August was also 0.7% higher than the same period a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted value of retail sales for August 2010 was 1.9% higher than in August 2009. For the three months to August 2010, the value was 2.3% higher than the same period a year earlier.
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