UK online sales predicted to jump this weekend - PCA

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 25, 2018

The UK retail sector is expected to enjoy bumper sales this Bank Holiday Weekend as consumers go online to stock up on last-minute deals for the summer.

PCA Predict, a GBG company, has predicted online sales will jump as much as 9% over the weekend, compared to the rest of 2018 to date. This will build on an increase in online sales in 2017, when more than 1.87 million shoppers headed online on Monday, the busiest shopping day of last year’s Spring Bank Holiday.

Shoppers are also expected to go online more consistently throughout the holiday weekend than they did during the Royal Wedding weekend. Online shopping peaked on Saturday at 8.53am, and 44% of consumers browsed on mobile devices during the ceremony.

“Bank Holiday weekends always bring a boom to online retail, as we saw last year, increasing 16% from 2016. This year will be no different, as the holiday weekend provides a much needed boost to the retail sector. I fully expect that we’ll continue to see growth in online sales this year as we head into the summer months. I think we could see as much as a 9% bump this weekend,” said Chris Boaz, group marketing director at GBG.

“What’s particularly interesting is the shifting trend we’re seeing from notable spikes in activity to more consistent behaviour, especially during the holiday weekends. Last weekend’s Royal Wedding, for example, saw shoppers rushing to the digital tills to stock up while watching the wedding, whereas this weekend can expect to see more equal levels of shopping across the board.”

Whilst PCs will continue to dominate this weekend, the share of consumers using mobile devices to buy products online is expected to rise. Last year, 39% of shoppers relied on smartphones, and 21% used tablets to shop throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, but PCs continue to lead the way with 57% of shoppers using their computers to shop this year.