UK online retail sales fall 4.7% in June

Recently, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the UK 's retail sales data for June. The data showed that UK retail sales increased by 0.5% month-on -month in June , but online sales fell by 4.7% .

As for the reason for the sales increase in June, some analysts believe that this is entirely due to the sports events held in Europe in 2021, and the "football fever" has promoted the hot sales of food and beverages .

But while celebrating the overall sales growth, some experts have issued warnings. They believe that although UK retail sales increased slightly in June, as the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus increases, British shoppers remain "cautious" about their consumer spending .

Currently, with the full lifting of the lockdown in the UK and the emergence of the Delta variant virus, British consumer confidence and purchasing power may show a downward trend in the next few months, and the retail industry will also face increasingly severe challenges .

Data showed that in the week ending July 15, 2021, UK debit and credit card spending fell 5 percentage points from the previous week to only 92 % of the level in February 2020. The decrease in debits was partly due to people reducing social spending such as restaurants, hotels and air travel .

British consumers also cut back on spending on items such as clothing and cars .

A retail partner at accounting firm EY said: Although the UK lifted epidemic restrictions on the 19th of this month, people still choose to travel cautiously, especially when hearing the news of the increasing number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, which further stimulated consumers' nerves, and many people are worried that they will need to be quarantined again.

In addition to the impact of the epidemic on the retail industry, the shortage of logistics and retail employees is also an urgent problem to be solved in the UK. Currently, due to a series of factors such as Brexit, border delays, unpaid leave plans and the upcoming summer holidays , many European trailer drivers have left the UK, and the country has a shortage of 100,000 trailer drivers .

In short, the UK's retail industry will be in a downturn in recent months. I hope that businesses can adjust their strategies in time to cope with the challenges brought about by the economic downturn.

U.K.

retail

Online shopping