As lockdown restrictions were reintroduced throughout September, online sales returned to patterns that would be expected this time of year. In comparison to the spending surges seen during phase 1 of the lockdown, last month recorded online sales growth of 42% year-on-year – below the peak growth of 51% in June, but still strong.
That’s according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers. At a category level, the data shows health & beauty and home & garden continued to perform well, with sales growing by 78.5% and 76.3% respectfully. Following the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X games consoles, electrical sales were also up a staggering 101.8%.
Meanwhile, perhaps in a nod to the seasonal change, overall clothing sales were up 7.9%. This included encouraging growth for menswear sales, which were up 20.5% against a year-to-date average of -10.3%.
Echoing sales figures from the last six months, multichannel retailers continued to strongly outperform their online-only counterparts, recording growth of 62.7% versus 19.6%.
Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG: “September marked a new phase in the COVID outbreak as, after three months of easing restrictions and encouraging work / life / social interactions to resume, restrictions started to be reimposed. The situation is somewhat different to how it was in March though, and it didn’t trigger an upsurge in online sales. Growth is still very strong, but the weekly and monthly trend lines are fluctuating in line with what we’d expect to see this time of year.
“From here, that could change. October has seen much stricter measures come into force across the UK plus the new three-tier system. With rising infection rates and potential for more restrictions, the attractiveness of physical retail may decline further. This makes Super Saturday – the busiest day leading into Christmas Week – problematic, as that volume will have to be diverted away from places like Oxford Street to elsewhere; most likely online, with serious proximity to Christmas, so retailers and carriers will be hoping people spread their spending out to avoid that bottleneck.”
