Record online sales light up Christmas
More people than ever did their Christmas shopping online in 2013 as online sales in the UK in December grew at their fastest rate in three years.
According to figures released by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, online sales of non-food products in the UK grew 19.2% in December versus a year earlier. This meant that online sales represented 18.6% of total non-food sales in December compared to 16.5% the same month in 2012.
December online growth was the strongest this year and the best since March 2010.
BRC director general Helen Dickinson said the surge in use of tablets and smartphones together with the ever faster delivery times achieved by an increasing number of retailers, had provided a new spur of growth to online shopping.
Never Miss a Retail Update!She added: “Multi-channel built on its strong position across all stages of the customer journey, from browsing and comparing prices to buying and collecting in-store. Retailers have invested significantly in their websites and delivery times, and this enhanced offer clearly struck a chord with customers who valued flexibility, choice and convenience whenever and wherever they did their shopping.”
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: “With one in five items bought on the internet in December, this really was an online Christmas for the retail sector. The statistics show that whilst store sales continue to flatline, online sales remain the main driver of growth for the sector, contributing nearly three quarters of the uptick in non-food sales in the last quarter of 2013.
“The winners this Christmas were those retailers with slick multi-channel operations, who could offer consumers the flexibility to shop how, and when, they wanted to.
“Retailers now need to focus on the ‘last mile’ and figure out how to get the item to the customer even faster. Retailers who can offer same day delivery, at a reasonable price, will be the winners in the race for sales in 2014, and steal a march on their competitors.”
