August sees boost to e-commerce sales

Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - 11:01 by Graham Miller

Last month there was an 11 per cent increase in sales made via safe shopping online across the UK, representing a fifth of all retail spending nationally.

This is according to the latest figures from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium, which revealed a stronger than anticipated uptick in e-commerce activity over the course of August compared with the average so far in 2017.

As a whole, there was a 2.4 per cent rise in retail sales, higher than during the same period in 2016. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it was safe shopping online, not the high street, which helped contribute to this growth.

Report spokesperson, Helen Dickinson, said that August had been a positive month for the industry, with a number of stimulating factors helping to buoy sales at the end of the summer. As well as parents buying back to school items for their children, fashion conscious consumers were using their time off to invest in clothing suitable for the incoming autumnal weather.

Dickinson also warned that things might not look so rosy for retailers in a few months, with inflation likely to take its toll on how much disposable income is available to average shoppers. Fears about the impact that Brexit will have on prices are also common, with analysts arguing that the government needs to take action to ensure that everyday items remain affordable.

So far this year, the monthly increase in online sales has sat at just below ten per cent, with many seeing this as a sign that the rapid growth enjoyed in the past was coming to an end. August managed to push growth back into double figures in a way that few had anticipated, but the uncertainties which cloud the future will surely have an impact on the market.