Better weather and the start of the sale season helped lift online retail sales last month following a subdued period for the channel.
According to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index, online sales rose by 8.5% in June, recovering from a disappointing May when the sector suffered its worst growth on record (+1.9%). June’s results represent the strongest growth so far this year, and are well ahead of the 3-month, 6-month and 12-month rolling averages (respectively -0.5%, +5.4%, +6.9%).
In terms of standout category, clothing recorded the highest growth so far this year with a rise of 15.7%. However, accessories and footwear did not fare as well, with accessories sales declining to their lowest ever June growth (-7.4%) and footwear also falling by -8.8%.
While further category analysis highlighted positive performances for health & beauty (+20.4%) and home and garden (+9.8), elsewhere the results continued the negative trend for electricals (-23.0%), and Gifts ( -23.4%).
Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG, said: “The trading environment for online retail in the first half of the year has been tough; for the previous three months (March-May), growth was just 2.2%. June then can be interpreted as a bounce-back, particularly given it was building on strong growth of 16.1% in June 2018. However, the discounting has been heavy so the margins achieved may not be high – online clothing sales were up 15.7%, but the average basket value for clothing was down -25%. That doesn’t suggest shopper confidence is very high.
“It is the summer sales period now, so end-of-season sales campaigns are in full swing. The key now for retailers is whether they can come out of discounting and maintain a reasonable level of sales growth before we get too close to the Black Friday period. Otherwise we may be in for another difficult peak where the rates of discount are wider and deeper than many retailers would like.”
