While the cost of living is increasing, consumers are not turning into conservative spenders any time soon. At least not in the UK. In June and July this year consumers in Britain spent a total of 18.5 billion pounds online. That’s a YoY growth of 1.6% compared to the same period last year. This is the first growth in more than half a year.
According to the Parcel Shipping Index by Pitney Bowes for 2022, global parcel volumes increased by only 1% compared to the same period previously. This could be attributed to the lockdowns in China. Interestingly, in the UK parcel volumes decreased by 5% in 2022. This has been attributed to a 7% drop in e-commerce sales for that period.
Spending trends in the UK
The Adobe Digital Economy Index has found that in June, UK residents spent nearly 9 billion pounds online. This is a 13.8% increase compared to the previous month. The following month, July, customers spent nearly a billion pounds extra than the previous month. A total of 9.75 billion pounds were spent in this single month. It’s also an increase of 2.2% compared to July last year.
This report also found the online price of non-essential items decreased by 3.2% in July and by 2.1% in June. Prices appear to be cheaper at a time where everyone is feeling the pinch with accelerated inflation. Retailers are trying their best to apply marketing techniques to keep customers’ loyalty and wallets wide open.
Shrinking parcel volumes
The latest released Parcel Shipping Index by Pitney Bowes indicates that physical stores performed better than online stores during the period under review in 2022. The UK’s parcel market is strengthened by five top carriers accounting for 71% of the shipments.
There’s a decline of 3 million noted in the total number of parcels delivered in the UK in 2022 compared to the 5.4 billion in 2021. Although the per capita parcel volume decreased, there’s no sight of any slowing down trend in delivery. There’s an increasing demand for same-day delivery and carriers are focusing on this, while aiming for zero-emission deliveries with an electric fleet.
The parcel volume in the UK dropped to 5.1 billion. On average 162 parcels are generated per second in the UK, with around 181 parcels shipped per household.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
