The easing in overall sales is particularly apparent when considering the week-on-week breakdown, with the first week of July down 14% versus just -5.5% in the final week. Other encouraging signs could be seen in the month-on-month figure, where a drop of 4.4% was lower than would be expected between June and July according to pre-pandemic patterns, and in the Average Basket Volume (ABV) which reached its highest total spend for 2021 at GBP134 – up 60% against July last year.

Apparel and footwear retailers recorded year-on-year growth but were up against low and negative growth last year, respectively.

Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG, told Just Style: “According to the latest results from the index, the year-on-year metrics for clothing are now performing as might have been expected pre-pandemic; growth was up 13.4%, which sounds good in the current context and when compared with most other categories, but that is against low growth of only 3.8% in July 2020. It is a similar story when you look at some of the sub-categories like footwear, which showed a comparatively strong sales increase of 21.4% versus other categories, but that is being measured against negative growth of 9.5% in July 2020.”

Mulchay adds in July 2021, overall month-on-month (MoM) growth was ahead of where it usually is at this point of the year; with the amount spent online declining 4.4% against June, whereas -8% was typical in 2020 and 2019.

“For the previous three months, the MoM rate has tracked below where it would normally be as shopper spend has been redistributed across other areas following the phased easing of restrictions.

“Perhaps the ‘pingdemic’ has played a role here, as so many people were forced into isolation, but it’s also tempting to suggest that we might be starting to see what the much-feted ‘new normal’ will actually look like from a retail perspective. If that MoM measure is starting to plot the established trading patterns that naturally go up and down at various times of year, the question of how much volume will stick online following the pandemic will have been answered.”

While online retail sales continued to fall to record-breaking lows in June, consumers continued to update their wardrobes, with clothing sales rising 18.6%.