UK online sales bounce back to double-digit growth
Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) has reported that the latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have indicated that online sales grew 13% year-on-year in April – following an “unprecedented” four months of single-digit growth. IMRG added: “April sales were up 4% month-on-month – a marked shift in the usual established trend of flat monthly growth between March and April, and the highest recorded for this period since 2007 – as online shoppers were apparently unaffected by the huge uncertainty around who would win the general election. April also saw the highest conversion rate yet seen in 2015 at 4.6%.”
The researchers speculated that the improvements in average temperatures may have boosted clothing sales – where growth was up 15%, its best performance in 2015 so far.
Mobile continued to drive overall online sales growth. April’s figures show that mobile sales increased 52% year-on-year and 8% on March.
IMRG said that the e-Retail Sales Index celebrated its 15-year anniversary last month. Over the 15 period, it added, “online sales have rocketed by 11,000%, with an estimated £640bn spent online over its lifetime”.
Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer, at IMRG commented: “The return to double-digit growth during April has resulted in overall growth of 9% year-to-date for the UK online retail market.”
This was still below IMRG’s 2015 growth forecast of 12%. Spooner said that a separate survey of IMRG members has revealed that “UK retailers believe a number of factors influenced the slowdown in e-retail growth during Q1 including market maturity, increased competition, less discounting resulting in consumers holding out for sales and promotions and also political and economic uncertainty”. However, Spooner added that it is “too early to say whether the single-digit growth recorded during Q1 was merely a blip.”
Some retailers did show very encouraging results for the quarter.
House of Fraser, for example, reported that its Multichannel net sales were up 51% year-on-year during April and up 38.3% versus last year on the first three months of the year (February to April).
Andy Harding, Chief Customer Officer at House of Fraser, commented: “Our strong sales performance is testament to the ongoing development of our premium Multichannel offer. In fact we’ve recently instigated an industry leading Buy & Collect proposition with an order cut-off at midnight for next day delivery to store. This improved service proposition helps set us apart from competitors.”
Harding added that House of Frazer has “lots of new and exciting developments to announce as we approach the second half of the year.”
