Euro zone retail trade was flat in June after a rebound in May, depressed by declining sales of food and drinks, figures showed.
The data points to soft consumer spending, which may stall the economic recovery.
On a year-on-year basis, retail sales in the 16-nation currency area, a sign of households' propensity to spend, rose 0.4 per cent, more than expected, following revisions to the previous month's data, Eurostat said on Wednesday.
Despite June's below-expectation monthly reading, Eurostat revised up the previous month's data, saying May retail sales actually rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month from a previous 0.2 per cent, and rose 0.6 percent annually, from 0.3 per cent.
Analysts say euro zone growth, so far boosted mainly by exports on rebuilding of inventories, will not become self-sustaining without a solid rebound in consumer spending.
Consumer demand is weak because unemployment in the euro zone has been stuck near 12-year highs of 10 percent for months, despite a string of other data that point to continued recovery from the most debilitating economic crisis in decades.
Retailers in Europe are struggling with weak consumer morale also because many governments have ordered spending cuts to ward off the sovereign debt crisis.
Eurostat said food, drinks and tobacco sales declined 0.7 per cent month-on-month in the euro zone in June while non-food products were up 0.3 per cent. Year-on-year, the figures were a 0.1 and 1.4 per cent increase respectively.
Germany and France, the euro zone's biggest and second biggest economies, saw retail sales fall 0.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively in June month-on-month. The figure increased in Austria, Belgium and Spain.
In the whole 27-nation European Union retail trade increased by 0.1 per cent on the month and 0.5 per cent annually, boosted by healthy figures in Britain and Poland.
Reuters