UK shoppers spent £5.8 billion online during August, down 11% from the previous month, according to figures from IT services company Capgemini and e-commerce industry group IMRG.

While a month-on-month decline is to be expected during August, this year it was "particularly significant", which Capgemini attributed to the Oympic games "distracting distracting regular online shoppers".

“It is very common for August to see a slight decline in e-retail sales, but it is interesting to see just how much an added impact the Olympics had,” said Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini UK. “It will now be up to retailers to capitalise on the changing season, and make sure the correct strategy is in place as we enter the run up to Christmas.”

The 11% month-on-month decline was "perhaps an indication that Olympic fever did not have an overall positive impact on the online retail industry," added Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG. 

Year-on-year, August’s online sales grew by 11%. This was the third lowest monthly year-on-year growth for the year so far. Despite its poor performance in August, the e-commerce sector has grown 13% during the year to date.