Easter trading contributed to putting a spring in online retail revenues in April, while a boost to eCommerce sales, seemingly driven by King Charles III’s coronation, helped kick off ‘Mega May’ – with retailers hoping to capitalise on the month’s three bank holiday weekends, latest data from Wunderkind, the leading performance marketing channel that scales one-to-one messages for retailers and brands, reveals.

Easter delivers spring in retail revenues

Data from Wunderkind’s Marketing Pulse, which analysed over 195.1 million shopper journeys, showed that UK digital revenues in April were up +57.3% year-on-year, with Easter delivering a key boost to online performance.

As the UK’s second biggest trading event after Christmas for retailers, Brits were expected to spend £892 million over Easter. According to Wunderkind’s data, eCommerce sales across the Easter weekend in 2023 were +27.6% greater compared to last year (07-10 Apr 2023 inclusive vs 15-18 Apr 2022 inclusive), with shoppers willing to spend in spite of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Buying consideration phases shorten in April, signalling growing consumer confidence

Web traffic was also up markedly on 2022 in April, increasing +46.8% year-on-year.

April’s web traffic was also lower than the levels seen in March, when visits to retailers’ websites rose +60% year-on-year, suggesting growing consumer confidence on discretionary spend. While consumers are still acting with caution, consideration phases appear to be shortening as the year progresses.

Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, GM of Wunderkind International, commented:

“In the light of ongoing inflationary pressures faced by households, retailers will welcome the positive performance figures in revenues seen during April and at the beginning of May. Retailers will be hoping to capitalise on this performance as we head deeper into 2023. It’s still a difficult time, but it remains the case that the brands focusing their attention on providing value across the board, and spending the time to build genuine relationships with customers, will win out.”

King’s coronation kicks off the start of ‘Mega May’

Figures from the Centre for Retail Research suggest the King’s coronation could have delivered a £1.4 billion boost to retail.

Wunderkind’s data has revealed that total online revenues in the week preceding the King’s coronation (01–07 May inclusive) were up +28.9% compared to the same period in 2022, while web conversions rose +78.2% year-on-year over the same period. Web traffic was also up 64.6%.

On the high street, the ‘coronation effect’ was in full swing, with data from Sensormatic showing footfall rallied at the start of the coronation week, rising +11.6% w-o-w on Tuesday 02 May and +2.1% w-o-w on Wednesday 03 May, as shoppers sought to snap up street party fare, fizz, bunting and cakes.

Discount grocer Lidl said it saw a +33% boost on sales of quiche in the past month while champagne sales also saw a +64% increase, while The Range said the wet weather forecast for the coronation weekend had prompted ‘gazebo mania’, with sales of the waterproof structures rising 36% in just 48 hours on Wednesday.