ONS retail figures show retail’s fight-back continued in September, with significant online pre-ordering of new games consoles pointing the way to an online Christmas, says the home delivery specialist ParcelHero.
Today’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) retail sales figures for September showed the much-heralded resurgence in retail sales continued as overall spending rose 3.4% YOY.
Online sales had the biggest growth again YOY, up 53%. Leading the online charge were department stores’ online sales. September was the month pre-orders opened for the Play Station 5 and X Box series X, leading to an 88% boost in department stores’ online sales YOY.
ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks, MILT, is presenting a webinar on the impact of Covid on the High Street for senior mail and express executives on Thursday, Post&Parcel Live. He says that the early ripples of the second Covid wave during September failed to slow retail’s fightback, although local lockdowns in October might well see a marked decrease in High Street footfall. Says David:
‘These figures are a boost to High Street stores as shoppers prepare to decide how they will shop this Christmas. Even so, despite a slight fall of -1.2 against last month, online’ s 53% growth points the way. Scotland’s National clinical director, Jason Leitch, got a lot of flak yesterday for stating Scots should prepare for a digital Christmas but these figures reveal that online sales will soar throughout the entire UK.
‘Sales between July-September were up 17.7% which is heartening. Department stores’ 6% online jump in one month was notable. An amazing 30.8% of all department store sales in September were online. Not every month will see pre-ordering open for two major new games consoles, but it does point the way to a digital Christmas this year.
‘To register – free of charge – to attend the Post&Parcel Live online conference visit: https://www.postandparcel.live/ For more information on how retailers can reduce the impact of a second wave by comparing carriers’ prices and services, see ParcelHero’s updated guide at https://www.parcelhero.com/en-gb/uk-courier-services
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