The volume of sales for the three months to June 2021 was 12.2 per cent higher than in the previous three months, driven in large part by particularly strong sales in April when non-essential retailing re-opened, according to the data released by the Office for National Statistics.
The proportion of retail sales conducted online remains substantially higher than before the pandemic, but in June most retail sectors reported a fall in their proportions of online sales as consumers returned to physical stores. Online spending values fell in June 2021 by 4.7 per cent when compared with May 2021, with all sectors except clothing stores reporting monthly falls in their online sales.
As for the non-store retailers, they reported a monthly decline of 3.7 per cent in June 2021. However, sales remain much higher than their pre-pandemic level, with volumes in June 2021 being 39.9 per cent higher than in February 2020.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)