Online closes in on UK retail domination, ParcelCompare

High Street retailers’ e-commerce sales rescued what could have been a disastrous December, according to online parcel booking price comparison site ParcelCompare. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) retail sales for December reveal Black Friday deals tempted shoppers to spend more in November than December. Overall retail sales slumped 1.5% in December 2017 compared to the previous month. Only continued YOY online growth kept this from being an even more significant collapse.

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks, says: “High Street brands with a strong online offering bucked the trend. High Street spending slumped against the previous month but many brands continued to increase their online sales, with strong year-on-year growth’ across all sectors."

Fashion and footwear stores increased their online sales by 20.9%, followed closely by household goods stores with a growth of 17%. Internet sales for multi-channel retailers  provided the largest positive contribution to overall online growth at 7.5%. "This changes the picture from previous months where pureplays such as Asos and Amazon dominated spending online. Jinks adds: “The internet continues its slow but steady climb towards eventual domination of UK retail. Overall internet sales have now hit 18% of all consumer spending, up from 17.1 in December 2016.”