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E-commerce spending grows as cold weather keeps consumers indoors

Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 09:22 by Graham Miller

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March was unseasonably cold this year, so it is perhaps unsurprising that Barclaycard has reported a 12 per cent year on year increase in online spending in the UK last month.

The Daily Mail reports that while the high street saw sales rise by less than half a per cent over the same period, millions of people were flocking to safe shopping online, so that they could stay wrapped up warm at home rather than braving the icy conditions outside.

Barclaycard spokesperson, David Chan, said that e-commerce sites were able to take a bigger chunk of retail spending than ever before in March, as a direct result of the climatic conditions.

This is obviously more bad news for the high street, which has been struggling to keep pace with the growth of online retail over the past few years.

Barclaycard is in a unique position to provide insight into safe shopping online because it is able to monitor around 50 per cent of all transactions made via payment cards.vv

Spending over the Easter period was actually down by a significant degree this year, with DIY outlets being hit particularly hard by an 11 per cent dip in sales.

Fashion sales were also down, but restaurants and cinemas saw 9.8 per cent and 8.8 per cent revenue increases, which shows that there are some areas which are resilient to bad weather and the rise of e-commerce.

Sales of electronic products rose by 36 per cent online, probably because consumers were looking for ways to entertain themselves, that did not involve going outside.

In addition, it was found that department store chains like John Lewis saw a dip in in-store sales, but were able to reap the benefits of an increase in purchases made online.