One in 10 Items Purchased Online Amid Freezing Conditions

Freezing weather last month pushed the number of items purchased online to 10 per cent of retail spending, according to the Office of National Statistics. 

Spending online in April rose 13.2 per cent compared to April last year as shoppers looked for ways to avoid braving the cold weather. Total weekly spending online during April was £571.7 million.

'Feedback from large retailers suggested that during the continued cold weather consumers purchased from their online sites rather than in store,' the ONS said. 

The increase compared to a 1.3 per cent rise in total retail spending as shoppers cut back on food spending and because of the shifting timing of Easter - which fell during April in 2012 but was in March in 2013. 

Total food spending fell 0.2 per cent in April compared to a year earlier. The ONS said this was the 'largest contraction on record'. It said one possible explanation was that consumers had begun to trade down in a reaction to continued food price inflation. It is also likely that heating bills have forced consumers to divert spending to pay for gas and electricity bills. 

Online food spending increased 5.9 per cent and accounts for 17.3 per cent of retail spending on the internet. Online spending in non-food stores increased 7.1 per cent accounting for 41.4 per cent of online spending. Spending at non-store retailers - which includes catalogues and firms which mainly sell online - increased 21.2 per cent accounting for 41.3 of online spending.

The ONS said that non-store retailing (see below for a more detailed breakdown of store versus non-store retailing) accounted for more than half the total growth in internet sales. 

At non-food stores (ie mainly clothing and home), textile, clothing and footwear sales increased 17.4 per cent, department store sales increased 16.4 per cent and household goods - which would include weather and Easter-sensitive home improvement sector - fell 15.8 per cent. 

Demand for clothing lifted towards the end of the month both online and on the high street as temperatures began to lift. 

The ONS says that , for every pound spend on retail in Britain, 41 pence is spent in food stores, 42 pence in non-food stores, 5 pence in non-store retailing (stalls, markets, mail order and those retailers that mainly sell online) and 12 pence on petrol. April's data shows that 66.6 per cent of non-store retailing was via the internet. 

ONS data shows the amount spent in the retail sector has barely changed since 2008 (see below). 

Office of National Statistics Retail Spend Index