Retailers reported decreased sales for the second month in a row in April, CNNMoney reported.

According to the Commerce Department, total retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, following March’s revised decline of 1.3 percent. Economists surveyed by briefing.com had expected retail sales to remain unchanged and were surprised by the decline.

“This is a disappointing report,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, said in a report.

When excluding automobiles and auto parts, retail sales fell 0.5 percent, compared with a decline of 0.9 percent in March. Economists had forecast April sales, excluding auto purchases, to increase 0.2 percent.

“The downward revisions to March make the story even more troubling,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

According to the report, sales of electronics declined 2.8 percent in April, clothing sales decreased 0.5 percent and furniture sales fell 0.5 percent. Sales at general merchandise stores decreased 0.1 percent.

Conversely, building materials purchases increased 0.3 percent and sales at auto parts and vehicle dealers increased 0.2 percent.

“The categories that I had expected to be weak, like cars and building materials, were up, and categories that I thought would increase, such as general merchandise sales, were down,” Niemira said. “So these results were really mixed against my own expectations.”