Highest year-on-year sales increase during 2012 receives boost from clothing, electricals and mobile
Highest year-on-year sales increase during 2012 receives boost from clothing, electricals and mobile
The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index released yesterday found summer sunshine and Olympic fever loosened purse strings.
Online sales last month experienced their highest growth this year, recording a huge 17% jump on July 2011 and a 9% increase on June 2012. That also puts total growth for the year to date at approximately 13% – in line with previous forecasts.
More sector winners than losers
Clothing sales made a welcome return to double figure growth in July, up 18% on June 2012 and 15% on July last year. New autumn lines hitting the shelves also contributed to the clothing spike encouraging shoppers to update their wardrobes earlier than usual.
Travel was up 12% year on year, recovering from a relatively sluggish performance in July 2011 when the sector was down 1% year on year. And electricals performed particularly well in July, increasing 30% on the same time last year.
The e-retail trade body said the electricals sector was also helped by Brits jumping online to buy high definition televisions and other electrical devices to guarantee the best seat in the house to watch team GB’s performance in the Olympics.
Mobile retail sales (drawn from the IMRG m-Retail Sales Index) continued to grow at a huge rate in July, recording a 313% increase on the same time last year. While the Index acknowledged this very strong growth, it also pointed out that it fell short of the year-on-year growth experienced in May and June 2012 (up 360% and 356%, respectively).
Pureplay performance outstrips multichannel
Online-only and catalogue retailers reported a year-on-year growth of 19.5% in July, surpassing their multichannel counterparts (15%) for the seventh consecutive month. Online-only retailers also fared better in terms of average basket spend, reporting a growth of 23% – £101 spent on average in July 2012 compared with £82 in July 2011. Conversely, average basket spend for multichannel retailers was down 1% at £198 compared with £200 in July 2011.
Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, said: “The return to such high growth will be welcomed by online retailers. While we won’t know the direct impact the Olympics has had on the sector until next month, the excitement and build up to the Games certainly contributed to July’s strong performance. Retailers, both online and offline, were offered a unique opportunity to build an international base of customers, so it will be interesting to see whether the UK successfully capitalised on the millions of additional visitors to Britain.”
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at e-retail trade body IMRG, added: “July saw the strongest Index performance year-to-date in terms of annual growth, with sales peaking during the second week of the month when many retailers launched their summer sales. The London Olympics also appears to have had a positive effect for online retailers, including the travel sector, where the average spend was 24% higher than July last year. It seems not all Britons enjoyed the blanket coverage of the Olympics, with many instead choosing to holiday abroad.
“The rapid growth in m-retail sales is clearly being driven by a change in consumers’ shopping behaviour and how and when they engage with brands. Retailers that focus on optimising their websites for this new breed of shopper will, no doubt reap the benefits of their investment,” she added.
