Britons sprinted to online retailers last month to stock up on summer clothes andhigh-definition TVs ready for the London 2012 Olympics, generating this year’s highest growth rate
for web-based shopping.Spending on internet purchases jumped 17% compared to July 2011 and was 9% higher than June 2012at £6.5 billion, the latest figures from the monthly IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show. Thisrepresented an average e-retailing spend of £128 per person. Total growth for the first sevenmonths of the year stands at approximately 13%, which is in line with previous forecasts.
Unsurprisingly, online sales of electrical products soared by 30% on the same time last year,boosted by the wet weather and the need for indoor entertainment, especially high definition TVsand other electrical devices ready to watch team GB’s performance in the Olympics.
Clothing sales, helped by brief sunny spells and ongoing price cuts, made a return todouble-figure growth in July, leaping 18% on June 2012 and up 15% on July last year. Newautumn lines hitting the shelves also contributed to the clothing spike encouraging shoppers toupdate their wardrobes earlier than usual. There was also strong growth for online sales of healthand beauty products (+32%), gifts (+27%) and travel/holidays (+12%).
Consumers continued to use mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs more and more forshopping purposes. M-retail sales again grew at a huge rate in July, recording a 313% increase onthe same time last year. This follows growth rates of 360% and 356% in May and June 2012respectively.
Online-only and catalogue retailers reported a year-on-year growth of 19.5% in July, surpassingtheir multichannel counterparts (15%) for the seventh consecutive month. Online-only retailers alsofared better in terms of average basket-spend, reporting a growth of 23% to average spending of£101 in July 2012 compared with £82 in July 2011. Conversely, average basket-spend for multichannelretailers was down 1% at £198 compared with £200 in July 2011.
Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, commented: “The return tosuch high growth will be welcomed by online retailers. While we won’t know the direct impact theOlympics has had on the sector until next month, the excitement and build-up to the Games certainlycontributed to July’s strong performance. Retailers, both online and offline, were offered a uniqueopportunity to build an international base of customers, so it will be interesting to see whetherthe UK successfully capitalised on the millions of additional visitors to Britain.”
Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG, added: “July saw the strongest Indexperformance year-to-date in terms of annual growth, with sales peaking during the second week ofthe month when many retailers launched their summer sales. The London Olympics also appears to havehad a positive effect for online retailers, including the travel sector, where the average spendwas 24% higher than July last year. It seems not all Britons enjoyed the blanket coverage ofthe Olympics, with many instead choosing to holiday abroad.
“The rapid growth in m-retail sales is clearly being driven by a change in consumers’ shoppingbehaviour and how and when they engage with brands. Retailers that focus on optimising theirwebsites for this new breed of shopper will no doubt reap the benefits of their investment,” sheadded.
Emma McLaughlin, Head of Online Marketing at John Lewis said: “Johnlewis.com continued its 2012out-performance with an incredible July, achieving a +39% increase in sales year on year. Thistrading period, which included the latter part of our Summer Clearance, saw all productdirectorates beat last year by double digit growth as we continue to delight our customers with ourrange and omni-channel convenience.
“Our electricals business continues to be boosted by sales of Apple technologies, from iPads tonotebooks and beyond. With customers thinking of beach reads and summer holidays, e-readers,particularly Kindle and Kobo, saw their best sales month so far. We also had stand-out performancesfrom sales of tablets. This helped our electricals business to move forward by over 57% on the samemonth last year.
“In fashion – despite the weather continuing to be a challenge – the directorate came in +43%compared to last year with strong sales coming from womenswear and accessories, in particularhandbags and shoes. Popular brands this month included Phase Eight, Mulberry, LK Bennett, Hobbs andDune. Home saw sales +19% on July last year with strength across the directorate but with notableperformances from lighting, wall décor and our outdoor assortment. This was also the month we sawour Olympic assortment in both home and fashion begin to sell through in volume which was nice tosee in the run up to the fabulous two weeks of Team GB success.”
The IMRG Capgemini Index, which was started in April 2000, tracks ‘online sales’, which aredefined as ‘transactions completed fully, including payment, via interactive channels’ from anylocation, including in-store.
