Following a sluggish March, when the government forced the UK into lockdown to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus, multichannel retailers saw sales grow more in April than pureplays, according to new research by IMRG Capgemini.

The new online retail index showed online sales surged in April to a 10-year high, up 23.8% year on year.

IMRG said multichannel retailers have found some respite from lost revenues from store closures, by seeing online sales grow 35% during the period, compared to a more modest 8.3% increase for pureplay retailers.