Fashion discounts in the summer sales gave a boost to ecommerce during June. Online sales grew by 17.6 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium.
The BRC-KPMG Online Retail Sales Monitor for June 2015 found ecommerce accounted for 18.4 per cent of total UK retail sales during the month.
The figures contrast with June 2014, when internet sales had grown by 10.6 per cent, and reflect the best online performance, said the BRC, since August 2014. During June online sales outperformed both the three-month and 12-month averages of 14.6 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively. In the previous month of May, ecommerce sales grew at a lower rate, at 9.9 per cent.
The fastest growth came in the clothing and footwear categories, while sellers of toys and baby equipment reported their best online growth since January.
Helen Dickinson, director general of the British Retail Consortium said, “Online retail sales have experienced the best growth since August 2014, largely driven by fashion promotions. For retailers, online is an increasingly useful tool to reach customers selectively and showcase their offer. Online sales strength is also shown in the fact its contribution to three month non-food sales growth has reached its highest proportion since December 2013. This highlights the variety of digitally-focused roles in the retail industry. It also shows the increasing demand for skilled people to develop sophisticated online operations and a seamless connection between physical and digital space.”
Online contributed 2.1 percentage points to overall sales growth in UK non-food retail sales during June. Overall, total UK retail sales grew by 2.9 per cent, compared to a 0.6 per cent rise in June 2014. They were up by 1.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis; last June they fell by 0.8 per cent.
Food sales grew in June for the seventh month in a row, meanwhile. Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of grocery analyst the IGD, said, “With deflation easing, there are various reasons to believe that food retail sales might have turned a corner although optimism is tempered by the many uncertainties in the global economy.”