Online sales surge as weather keeps people at home - BDO

Retail sales jumped last week, industry data showed on Friday, as a surge in online shopping offset lacklustre in-store demand.

According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like sales rose 6.31% in the week ending 29 October. Within that, in-store sales nudged only fractionally higher, up 0.32%. But non-store sales spiked 17.33%.

Fashion sales had the biggest uplift, jumping 10.86%, followed by homewares, which rose 5.48%. In contrast, lifestyle sales were 0.68% higher.

The weather for much of the UK was unsettled last week, keeping many people at home. A number of schools were also on half term.

Overall, footfall fell 4.4% during the week. High streets saw the biggest decline, down 6.2%, while footfall fell 4% in shopping centres and 0.8% in retail parks.

The weekly data coincided with the British Retail Consortium’s monthly sales update, also published on Friday. It showed a sharp fall in footfall in October, predominantly due to poor weather.