Online sales grew by 10.3% in March, compared with the same time last year, but fell 0.7% compared with the previous month of February, according to government figures out today.
The Office for National Statistics’ Retail Sales report for March found that UK shoppers spent £766.9m a week, on average, over the internet, accounting for 11.7% of the total £6.9bn spent each week, on average, in UK retail during the month. Last March, 10.9% of shoppers’ retail transactions took place online.
The fastest ecommerce growth was at household goods stores, where spending grew by 28.7% to account for 6.6% of all UK retail sales in the sector. Online spending on food grew by 12.8% to account for 4.1% of all spending. Department store ecommerce spending grew by 11.9% to account for 10.5% of all spending.
The total amount spent in UK retail, across all channels, was 0.7% up compared to last March, but down by 0.3% compared to February.
Overall, UK retail sales grew by 4.2% in volume but fell by 0.7% in value.
