back to article Biggest ever jump in web, non-store retail sales for June

The Office for National Statistics said non-store retailing jumped 24.4 per cent in June – the biggest such leap it has ever recorded. Comparing June 2011 with the same month last year, value of all retail sales went up 4 per cent and the volume of sales went up 0.4 per cent. Food sales fell 4.2 per cent – the largest fall …

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  1. James Hughes 1

    Inclined to agree on the fuel thing

    It now costs a noticeable amount of money to 'pop down the shops', making online purchases even cheaper. Add that to mental parking costs (I give you Cambridge as an example), and less available time and its easy to see why people go online.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      @James Hughes 1

      "It now costs a noticeable amount of money to 'pop down the shops',"

      Er, does it? I just fo out of my front door, turn left, walk 300 metres and there are the shops. Sure , for some things I have to get in the car and drive but most things , no , sorry. The shops are very convenient. Why would I spend 30 mins ordering food online then wait for them to turn up in some 4 hour time interval when I can just spend 5 mins walking to the supermarket and do it myself , getting better quality fruit and veg while I'm at it?

      As for books , CDs etc. Yeah , online ordering is fine so long as you can be in between 9-5 weekdays for when the delivery guy/postman turns up. Otherwise its a trip to the depot to get it which rather defeats the whole point of having it delivered. And don't even get me started about deliveries being left in the pissing rain for hours while I'm at work. Most web shopping - aka 21st century mail order - frankly , is sh1te.

      1. Luke McCarthy

        That's fine

        That's fine if you live 300 meters from shops, instead of several miles.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        title

        And anyone with any sense would have most online purchases shipped to their work address instead, negating your last paragraph.

        I tend to use public transport where needed or walk into town - much better than trying to find a parking spot and then panicing about some uppity parking inspector issuing you with a fine. It then lets me use physical stores as a good way of previewing items then redlaser'ing them to find the better prices online. If the price in-store ends up being cheaper than the online price + delivery I'll buy there and then.

        I also find home delivery of the bulk of our food to be handy since I don't own a car and don't really want the sheer cost of running and insuring one, any extra treats or things we run out of in between can be easily picked up from the nearest shop to us.

        The only thing online shopping can't compete with is when you're walking around a physical store and you spot something you didn't even think about or is new and you want to give it a go, especially if it's an item that would normally fall out of the behaviourally tracked suggestions used on websites.

        *shrug* To each their own, while I overwhelmingly prefer online shopping I find use in physical stores from time to time too.

        You know what would revive high street shopping? Decent, cheap public transit and a scheme to lower the cost of rents so small chain and boutique shops could return. Just need to find a way of taking the likes of DSG stores and FirstBus round the back and giving them a sympathetic twin barrel to the side of the head ;)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Happy

          Hmmm

          "The only thing online shopping can't compete with is when you're walking around a physical store and you spot something you didn't even think about or is new and you want to give it a go,"

          That's what I blame my weight gain on! Ha ha! Since I went with home shopping delivery the weight has started falling off as I get only what I order and nothing more, no snacks or crap. Downside is you get the naff fruit off the top of the stack, rough with the smooth I suppose!

        2. Dave Bell

          Payments?

          I didn't think you could pay for goods online which were not shipped to the card-holder's address.

          1. streaky
            Alert

            Cardholder Address

            Of course you can - delivery address != cardholder address.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Not sure ...

    in the past 6 months, we have bought online:

    1 cooker

    1 dressing table

    1 barbecue shelter

    1 pair spectacles

    assorted home brew items

    printer cartridges

    and have just had our second Tesco online order delivered. IN addition we have used Amazon for over 10 years.

    Not a *concious* move towards online shopping just seemed researching on the web has got better (better pictures, descriptions) and we just CBA to schlep around loads of depressing out of town megacentres.

    The upside is we have become very time-rich. Weekends are now about doing a whole family thing, not taken up with shopping.

  3. Pete Wood

    Much cheaper to shop online

    As another Cambridge denizen, I couldn't agree more. Most town centres are now no-go areas as far as a "quick pop down the shops" goes. Traffic queues, parking charges, fuel prices, aggro and hassle. Why would I want to shop in a standard UK town centre any more?

    There are exceptions - towns that don't have standard identikit highstreets (I spent a few days in Hastings Old Town last month, lovely) are a joy, but why would I want to pay a fortune and lose half my day to walk down a crowded high street full of exactly the same shops and offers as every other high street? All of which are duplicated online anyway.

    Amazon offers me free delivery to my home or workplace - whichever is more convenient - on even a single CD or a single book.

    I think that Mary Portas has her work cut out on this one...

  4. yoinkster

    quick question ...

    The value of all sales went up by 4% ... does that take inflation into account?

    With inflation currently around (or just over I believe) 4%, does that basically mean that sales stayed steady? Or, because of increased spending on fuel, have we seen that retail value sales actually dropped?

    1. streaky
      Facepalm

      Inflation.

      Says on the page if you bother to lok:

      3. Retail sales volume is the total takings adjusted for inflation and the value of retail sales is the total actual takings.

      4. All volume statistics referred to above are seasonally adjusted and chainlinked.

      :)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @anon coward

    "And anyone with any sense would have most online purchases shipped to their work address instead, negating your last paragraph."

    Not everyone works in an office and not all companies allow personal mail to be delivered to them.

    But yeah , apart from those minor points fantastic idea.

  6. Captain Scarlet
    Facepalm

    In store barrage of annoyance

    I tend to find being pounced by people wanting to help my buy something although they have no knowledge of the products and just want you to buy the most expensive flashy piece of crap in sight or people wanting to give me credit cards loans, breakdown cover, do I want to sue the store for making me fall over a pile of potatoes or would I like my car washed infurates me, I go to places like Lakeside where I can simply sidestep such people or when I dont require a lot online.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Food sales down

    Well... Tesco is putting 25% extra on food prices, slowly. What do you expect to happen?

  8. Dennis Wilson

    Lazyness

    The only reason online sales have boomed is because all humans prefer the lazy way of doing things. It's why we go to Tesco, or Sainsburys instead of the local bakers, butchers, Anne Summers, and a multitude of other shops

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