Amazon UK sales rocketed in 2021 on home shopping demand

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Feb 7, 2022

Online retail giant Amazon saw its UK revenues jump 20% in 2021, latest figures show. That’s a huge 82% leap on pre-pandemic levels, as lockdowns and restrictions drove more at-home shoppers to its website.

According to filings made at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, UK sales leapt to £23.6 billion in 2021 from £19.6 billion in 2020. That’s also massively ahead of the £13 billion sales recorded in pre-pandemic 2019.

Amazon’s draw continued as normal patterns of shopping returned as Covid restrictions diminished, it noted.

GlobalData research director Patrick O’Brien told The Times newspaper: “While other major digital players appear to have peaked earlier in the pandemic, UK consumers show little let up in their reliance on Amazon. It’s a very strong performance against an exceptional comparative.”

Amazon has raised the price of Prime in the US and O’Brien added that he expects the online giant to extend its Prime price hike to the UK market. Last week it said was raising the price of its annual US Prime subscription by 17%. 

“Prime is ingrained in the UK consumers mindset, and it will be confident it can raise prices here as it is doing in the US.”

Data shows that when the UK went into lockdown last January, e-commerce reached a record high and accounted for 37.7% of total retail sales, according to the Office for National Statistics. This compares to 20.2% the previous January.