New figures: online sales up 18% year-on-year in June
New figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have revealed that online retail sales grew by 18% year-on-year in June, boosted by a strong performance in a number of key sectors.
This was the highest annual growth recorded by the Index in 2015.
After a 2.7% increase on May, the results also mark the strongest June month-on-month growth since 2003. The total growth for the first half of the year reached 11%, supported by a much improved second quarter of the year. The Index recorded an annual increase of 14% between April and June, double the growth experienced during January and March.
Clothing sales saw a year-on-year increase of 18% in June while sales in the travel sector climbed by 25%.
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, said: “June brought the strongest performance of the year so far, no doubt buoyed by the consistent summer weather which also saw the highest growth for the clothing sector so far in 2015. It may be that the slowdown we recorded during Q1 was a blip caused by a number of factors and actually consumer confidence has risen sufficiently to keep online sales growth at this higher rate throughout the summer period and moving into peak.”
Sales via a smartphone or tablet device rose by 57% year-on-year in June with sales on smartphones reporting a growth rate between January and June of over double that of tablet devices.
The Index also revealed a growing disparity between online-only and multichannel retailers with growth in June for online-only sales reaching just 13% year-on-year, compared to 21% for multichannel retailers.
Steve Hewett, head of retail customer engagement and loyalty at Capgemini Consulting, said: “I’m particularly interested to see the impact click and collect services have had on the performance of multichannel retailers compared to their online only counterparts.
“Capturing their customer’s delivery needs has helped build a stronger connection between retailer and consumer, which is ultimately being reflected at the cash register. It will be key for the online community to capitalise on the current consumer confidence and find a way to build the same level of connection.”
