By Praseeda Nair2021-04-25T12:30:00+01:00
Online sales rocketed 62% this March over lockdown March 2020. What does this mean for UK independent retailers?
Despite the temptations of an imminent return to shopping in ‘real’ stores, March online sales still boomed 0.6% against February’s sales and over 60% against the first month of Lockdown 1.0 last year.
Recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) retail sales figures for March reveal the value of online sales boomed by 62% against the same month last year, which was the first-ever lockdown month.
The British Retail Consortium estimates UK retailers have lost £27bn in sales over all three lockdowns, with 67,000 retail jobs lost last year alone. 17,532 chain store outlets closed across the UK’s down-and-out high streets and retail parks. Now with more than half of the UK’s adult population having received at least one of the vaccine’s two doses, and with 21 June earmarked as the date when the UK opens up again, industry experts are vouching for a high street renaissance for retailers.