Ecommerce sales rose by almost a fifth in April, according to official figures released today.
The Office for National Statistics retail sales figures for the month put average weekly internet sales in April at £489.0m, 18.1% up on the same month last year. It was also up on the previous month when an average of £485.4m was spent each week. Online sales accounted for 8.5% of all retail sales in the month, the ONS said.
The ONS says that in April 60.6% of online sales were made by non-store retailers, while 3.2% of food sales were made online.
The growth in online sales contrasted with a drop in total retail sales, which fell by 1.1% in volume when compared to the same month last year, and by 2.3% in volume when compared to the previous month, thanks to a 13.2% month-on-month fall in automotive fuel sales.
When automotive fuel was excluded, the volume of retail sales fell by 0.3%, year-on-year, and 1%, month-on-month.
