Fashion & travel sectors boost online sales as lockdown end is planned

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Fashion & travel sectors boost online sales as lockdown end is planned.

The latest online retail data from Salesfire has shown the travel and fashion sectors capitalised on sales in February following the announcement of a roadmap out of lockdown.

Monthly data, gathered from Salesfire’s eCommerce analytics platform, TrendDesk, showed that total orders with UK online retailers up more than 75% on the same period last year.

The travel sector performed particularly strongly as visitors to travel booking sites increased by 213% compared to the same period last year following the announcement of a plan to lift lockdown restrictions later in the year.

Online fashion sales continued to perform strongly, with orders up 119% year on year.

Rich Himsworth, CEO of Salesfire, said: “The announcement of a plan to lift lockdown restrictions has undoubtedly fuelled the increase in online orders with fashion and travel retailers as shoppers look forward to holidays and socialising again after a difficult few months.

“The reopening of non-essential retail stores from April could have seen shoppers hold back on online orders, but demand remains really strong compared to last year. So many consumers have adapted to the convenience of buying from home, so the surge in demand for online retail we have seen over the last year is likely to continue.

“The rise in travel bookings in particular shows the huge amount of pent up demand and we expect to see the sector perform thrive as consumers look ahead to a ‘staycation’ later in the year.”

Salesfire collects data from 3,000 online retailers, across a range of sectors including health and beauty, fashion and electronics.