High street chain Argos suffered another slide in sales over the summer as demand for televisions and tablet computers remained weak.

The firm, owned by Home Retail Group, saw comparable store sales drop 2.8% in its second quarter after a disappointing August, although this was marked an improvement on the 3.9% slide in the previous three months.

Argos said sales of electrical products, as well as white goods such as fridges and dishwashers, continued to come under pressure, although toy sales were strong over the summer.

Like-for-like sales across Argos over the half year as a whole were 3.4% lower.

The figures come in stark contrast to those of rival Dixons Carphone, which cheered growth in electricals sales in an impressive performance in the quarter to August 1.

Home Retail saw overall trading buoyed by Homebase as like-for-like sales across the DIY chain lifted 5.9% in its second quarter, although this was partly driven by stock clearance sales as it closed eight stores over the summer.

Total sales across Homebase fell 2.8% due to the shop closures, while profit margins also dropped amid the clearance sales.

John Walden, chief executive of Home Retail, said: "Argos's sales continued to be adversely impacted by the performance of a number of key electrical product categories as well as weaker overall market conditions in August."

He also cautioned the all-important Christmas season for Argos was set to be unpredictable this year.

"The outcome for the group's full year generally depends upon the important Christmas trading period at Argos which this year seems less predictable than usual due to a less certain promotional environment," he said.

The group added it saw "encouraging early results" from new stores opened under a digital makeover of Argos after it launched more than 50 digital concessions in Homebase and Sainsbury's.

It is also refitting a raft of Argos stores to include fast-track collection and ordering from iPads rather than catalogues.

Retail expert Freddie George at Cantor Fitzgerald said Home Retail's trading update was "overall better than our and market expectations", although shares fell 2% as investors appeared unconvinced.

David Stoddart, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said the impact of store closures and a wider overhaul was "evident again" in the figures.

He added: "Management acknowledges that the outlook for Christmas trading is 'less predictable than usual' and makes no reference to Black Friday.

"That is unlikely to provide much reassurance given existing concerns about industry performance in August."