With most of the UK's retail estate remaining closed for the forseeable future, new data has showed that many brands are closing the sales gap through their digital offerings – with online sales in the UK increasing 27 per cent from the same time year-on-year and up 23 per cent from last week.

Proprietary data from commerce experience firm Bloomreach revealed that despite potentially having more time on their hands, Brits are not wasting it browsing online before purchasing, with search traffic up 46 per cent year-on-year and search sales up 74 per cent from the same time last year.

Brian Walker, chief strategy officer at Bloomreach, explained that search, delivery and Click and Collect are becoming increasingly important.

"Everyone is a purposeful, focused shopper now, they aren’t browsing, and this - in combination with features like store pick-up - means that stores will essentially function as fulfilment nodes for the foreseeable future.

"This way of shopping is the new normal and it’s not going to go back to the way it was before - the changes in the shopping experience are likely to be lasting ones that play out for years and this will have a meaningful impact on businesses of all kinds."

Bloomreach data also showed that in the grocery category specifically, online traffic is outpacing online sales.

"As with past weeks, consumers are facing out-of-stocks, lack of pick and delivery slots, and they are leaning on search not only for online purchases, but also to uncover whether something is actually available in-store before they mask up and leave their homes for what is still today a treacherous experience," added Walker.

Separately though, Signifyd’s Ecommerce Pulse data showed that for the first time since the first week of March, total online sales fell week over week.

From 21 to 27 April, fashion sales declined 11 per cent, while beauty was off 17 per cent.

Consumer packaged goods - including toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning supplies - were down six per cent for the week, while leisure and outdoor goods - including games, toys, puzzles and indoor exercise equipment - were also down five per cent for the week.

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