News

How has Online Retail Fared During Lockdown?

How did Online Retail Fare During Lockdown?

With Covid-19 shutting all retail stores for almost 3 months in England, shoppers were forced to go online if they wanted to make purchases. But, how have online retail sales fared during the lockdown?

Have online retail sales increased?

One may use an educated guess to assume with shops shut during lockdown that, naturally, online sales would increase. However, with huge economic uncertainty and anxiety, did sales increase online? “While we see record falls for many stores sales, online continued to do well in April 2020 as the proportion of online sales reached a record high across many store types” (ONS). Moreover, “clothing stores still reached a record proportion of online sales at 46.4% when compared with 26.6% in March 2020” (ONS).

Will online sales continue to increase?

It’s extremely difficult to predict, especially as non-essential shops in England re-opened on June 15^th. Consumers now have the option to return to the physical stores, however, will people feel comfortable doing so? “Research by Nielsen showed that 7.9 million households had placed an online grocery order in the four weeks to May 16, compared with 4.8 million a year earlier, with 1.1 million of these being new online shoppers”, (The Times). The trend of online shopping may here to stay, moreover, “retail bosses have said that they expect the consumer shift online to last long after lockdown, with more people becoming accustomed to doing bigger, weekly shops and older shoppers becoming more familiar with the technology”. The short term affects on physical stores from lockdown has been catastrophic, and increasing online sales seem to be here to stay.