UK online retail sales posted the lowest annual growth in October in 15 years which is likely due to impending Black Friday discounts, “causing consumers to withhold spending in the hope of lower prices in November”, the national e-commerce association IMRG reported.
Last month, e-retail sales growth in the UK reached just 8.9%, which represents the lowest ever October growth since the launch of the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index 15 years ago. It is considered low in the context of the peak pre-Christmas period which usually generates the highest parcel volumes and thus the strongest growth compared to the rest of the year.
With regard to individual sectors, some of those selling higher-cost products such as garden and electricals even recorded negative growth in October, with the average basket value for electricals going down 12% compared to October 2014. The clothing sector also recorded weaker sales growth, probably also impacted by the mild weather last month.
In contract, other product categories that usually generate lower average basket values such as accessories, footwear and lingerie recorded a solid performance in October, with an annual increase of 24%, 23% and 19% respectively, the index showed.
The index also revealed a growing performance disparity between ‘online only’ retailers compared to their multichannel counterparts. In October, the online-only retailers saw their sales increase by 18% on the same period last year, which is 14% higher than that of the multichannel retailers, which recorded just 4%.
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, commented: “The ‘pre-peak lag’, where shoppers hold off from making purchases in expectation of bagging a discount over the Black Friday peak, may have started far earlier than last year – as October 2015 growth was significantly down on October 2014. Interestingly though the sectors that typically stock lower-cost items – including accessories, lingerie, footwear, health & beauty and gifts – continue to perform strongly, while some sectors stocking higher-cost items (electricals and garden) recorded negative growth in October.”
