UK retailers saw record online sales last month as trading more than doubled but it still failed to offset the impact of empty high street stores, according to new figures.<\/p>\n
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The BDO Retail Sales Tracker for May revealed that online sales surged 129.5% higher compared with the same month last year<\/strong> \u2013 the highest jump on record \u2013 as shoppers moved online.<\/p>\n However, retailers still saw total like-for-like sales slump by almost a fifth for the month.<\/strong><\/p>\n The research said that sales across stores and online platforms fell 18.3%<\/strong> against the same month last year, with the decline in sales slowing marginally compared with April.<\/p>\n Fashion sales dived 22.6% for the month<\/strong>, although the category did see a slight improvement on previous months due to slightly higher online spending.<\/p>\n Lifestyle retailers reported a 30% slump in total like-for-like sales due to the closures.\u00a0However, total homeware sales rose by 22% in May on the back of strong growth by online retailers and the reopening of homeware and furniture stores midway through the month.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sophie Michael, head of retail and wholesale at BDO, said: \u201cDespite the significant pick-up in e-commerce, the monumental collapse in discretionary spend remains stark<\/strong> as retailers continue to face challenging headwinds.<\/p>\n \u201cAs shops look to reopen on 15 June, they will face disrupted supply chains, mounting out of season stock and reduced footfall,<\/strong> as well as staffing uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cThese problems will be further compounded with the financial burden of implementing new measures to keep staff and customers safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a separate report has revealed that consumer confidence continued to slide in May<\/strong> as the lockdown weighed further on spending.<\/p>\n GfK said its latest Covid-19 flash report has revealed that its consumer confidence index for the week from May 20 to May 26 slipped a further two points<\/strong> to minus 36, from minus 34 a fortnight earlier.<\/p>\n Joe Staton, GfK\u2019s client strategy director, said: \u201cAgainst a backdrop of falling house prices, soaring jobless claims, and with no sign of a rapid V-shaped bounce-back on the cards, consumers remain pessimistic about the state of their finances and the wider economic picture for the year to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":138795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10585,6,10494],"tags":[4060,14437,15031,12137],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n