May’s UK online retail sales lowest in 18 months, but warm weather categories boom

UK online spending fell 1.2% year-on-year in May to £7.8 billion, despite (or maybe partly because of) prices being nearly 10% lower than last year, according to Adobe Digital Insights. 

However, the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in early June delivered a 252% increase in gaming category sales during its first weekend so that’s good news for June’s figures generally. And May itself saw some categories doing well as the sun shone.

But first, prices. They were down 9.6% last month against May 2024 and were down 2.3% compared to April. But prices remain too high for some consumers to pay for goods in one go and Buy Now Pay Later spend was £1.18 billion during the month, but that was its lowest since January 2023.

Yet there were some ‘positive’ numbers too with retail site visits from AI sources up 66% on April.

So what caused the general downwards trend? Adobe said rising household costs, broader economic concerns, and public and school holidays combined in May to curtail UK consumers’ online spending power. Online prices were significantly lower last month but low prices clearly weren’t enough to attract many shoppers. And of course, price cuts also made it that bit harder for spend values to match previous periods.

The aforementioned Nintendo Switch 2 launch in early June does seem to have boosted spending since May ended and Adobe said that the launch had a halo effect for other consoles and gaming-related items at the start of this month.

Looking back at May, while we saw the first online sending decline in 18 months, some categories were positive month on month as the warmest spring on record continued. May’s date shows sporting goods up 37% compared to April, sun cream rising 23% and activewear 21%. Online sales of travel-related products were also up 26%, including electronics cables and accessories (+29%) and luggage (+17%).