Online retail: month-on-month retail sales growth by sector during COVID-19 2020

In the first half of 2020 when the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis hit the United Kingdom (UK), the most dramatic changes in online retail sales took place during April. On a month-on-month basis, food retail grew by over 55 percent in April 2020 compared to the previous month in the same year. Textiles, clothes and footwear stores were impacted the most negatively as the UK went into lockdown and non-essential stores closed until June 2020. During the summer months, monthly growth rates for online retail sales in the food sectors were more stable. With the introduction of the second lockdown in November 2020, online retail sales value increased again, resulting in monthly growth rates of 24.2 percent for household goods stores and 7.9 percent for clothing stores.