DatasetUpdated monthly
How much of UK retail is sold online, month by month (ONS data)
The Office for National Statistics measures how much of Great Britain’s retail spending happens online. This page has every month since November 2006, the split by type of shop, and the full series as CSV and JSON.
27.3% of retail sales were online.August 2026, per the ONS.
In August 2026, 27.3% of retail sales in Great Britain were made online, according to the ONS Retail Sales Index (published 18 September 2026, not seasonally adjusted). A year earlier, in August 2025, it was 26.1%. Before the pandemic, in February 2020, it was 19.1%. The highest month on record is January 2021, at 37.8%.
- 27.3%of retail sales were online in August 2026
- £2.56bnspent online in an average week of August 2026, out of £9.40bn of all retail
- 37.8%the record, in January 2021
- 19.1%in February 2020, before the pandemic
01The trend
Online share of retail sales since 2006
Online share jumped during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Source: ONS, checked .
02By type of shop
Which kinds of retailer sell most online (August 2026)
The ONS splits retailers by what kind of shop they run. In August 2026, household goods stores made 27.5% of their sales online, against 23.7% a year before. Food stores made 9.9%.
“Non-store retailing” is the ONS group for retailers that do not sell from shops, so most of its sales are online. The other groups are classed by the kind of shop the business runs.
03The numbers
The last 24 months
Share of sales made online, by month and type of retailer, plus average weekly online sales in pounds. The download has every month back to November 2006 and the other ONS groups.
| Month | All retail | Food stores | Non-food stores | Clothing and footwear | Household goods | Non-store | Online sales a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 27.3% | 9.9% | 23.4% | 25.8% | 27.5% | 89.0% | £2,564m |
| Jul 2026 | 27.5% | 9.7% | 23.1% | 26.7% | 26.0% | 88.8% | £2,643m |
| Jun 2026 | 28.4% | 10.1% | 24.5% | 28.5% | 27.4% | 90.0% | £2,722m |
| May 2026 | 27.8% | 10.1% | 23.8% | 28.8% | 24.9% | 90.3% | £2,678m |
| Apr 2026 | 27.5% | 10.1% | 24.1% | 29.5% | 25.5% | 89.4% | £2,548m |
| Mar 2026 | 28.3% | 10.5% | 25.2% | 31.1% | 26.2% | 90.1% | £2,637m |
| Feb 2026 | 27.5% | 10.5% | 23.7% | 28.2% | 26.8% | 90.2% | £2,416m |
| Jan 2026 | 28.7% | 10.2% | 25.7% | 31.8% | 26.9% | 90.5% | £2,497m |
| Dec 2025 | 29.5% | 9.5% | 27.6% | 30.2% | 29.2% | 91.9% | £3,288m |
| Nov 2025 | 32.4% | 10.1% | 30.0% | 32.8% | 28.2% | 93.0% | £3,439m |
| Oct 2025 | 28.0% | 9.8% | 25.3% | 28.7% | 24.0% | 88.3% | £2,656m |
| Sep 2025 | 27.3% | 9.7% | 25.2% | 27.3% | 25.0% | 87.5% | £2,461m |
| Aug 2025 | 26.1% | 9.3% | 23.3% | 26.4% | 23.7% | 87.2% | £2,349m |
| Jul 2025 | 26.7% | 9.1% | 23.2% | 25.8% | 23.1% | 88.9% | £2,481m |
| Jun 2025 | 26.5% | 9.3% | 23.7% | 26.4% | 24.2% | 88.6% | £2,389m |
| May 2025 | 26.1% | 9.1% | 23.1% | 26.8% | 22.8% | 88.7% | £2,365m |
| Apr 2025 | 26.2% | 9.2% | 23.9% | 28.0% | 23.4% | 88.6% | £2,398m |
| Mar 2025 | 26.6% | 9.5% | 23.7% | 28.9% | 23.0% | 88.0% | £2,351m |
| Feb 2025 | 25.9% | 9.4% | 22.9% | 27.1% | 23.1% | 88.0% | £2,194m |
| Jan 2025 | 26.8% | 9.5% | 25.2% | 29.2% | 25.1% | 87.4% | £2,182m |
| Dec 2024 | 29.0% | 9.0% | 27.4% | 30.2% | 28.6% | 90.4% | £3,228m |
| Nov 2024 | 30.3% | 9.6% | 28.1% | 31.9% | 27.8% | 88.2% | £3,023m |
| Oct 2024 | 27.7% | 9.4% | 25.1% | 29.5% | 24.8% | 88.7% | £2,506m |
| Sep 2024 | 27.0% | 9.2% | 25.2% | 28.4% | 24.9% | 89.4% | £2,330m |
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04Method
How we collect this
Everything here comes from the ONS Retail Sales Index internet sales dataset (DRSI), read through the ONS website’s own data feed for each series: J4MC for all retail, KQ77 to KQ7C for the store types, JE2J and JE4W for weekly sales in pounds. Figures are for Great Britain, at current prices and not seasonally adjusted, exactly as ONS publishes them.
Our server checks once a day whether ONS has published a new release, with one request that names us. When a release lands (the next is due 23 October 2026) it stores all ten series and this page is rebuilt. ONS revises recent months, so a figure here can change by a decimal place between releases; the download always carries the release date it came from. Last checked .
ONS data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. You can reuse this page’s figures; please credit the ONS and link here or to the ONS series.
FAQQuick answers
Questions
What percentage of UK retail sales are online?
27.3% in August 2026, for Great Britain, from the ONS Retail Sales Index (not seasonally adjusted). The figure moves from month to month, and was 26.1% in August 2025.
When was online shopping at its highest in the UK?
January 2021, when 37.8% of retail sales were made online, during the third national lockdown. Before the pandemic, in February 2020, the share was 19.1%.
Which types of shop sell the most online?
Apart from non-store retailers (89.0%), household goods stores had the highest online share in August 2026 at 27.5%, then textile, clothing and footwear stores at 25.8%. Food stores were lowest at 9.9%.
Is this the UK or Great Britain?
Great Britain. The ONS Retail Sales Index covers England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland is not included.
When is this updated?
ONS publishes the Retail Sales Index monthly. The next release is due 23 October 2026. Our server checks daily and adds a new release the day it appears.
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