Online sales growth continued to slowly ease in August, falling against July by 4.1%. While overall sales remained strong – growth was up 43.5% year-on-year – the result dipped below the rolling three-month average of +49.95%.
This is according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers.
The data shows that as the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ initiative drove people back to the high street, the gap between retailer type continued to widen. In spite of rising footfalls on high streets, multichannel retailers once again outshone their online-only counterparts – recording growth of 70.5% year-on-year compared to 11.4%.
Elsewhere the relaxation of lockdown and hot weather were reflected in sales at a category level. As in-person social activities and restaurant visits increased, clothing sales were up again by 6.8% compared to last month’s more modest rise of 0.6%. During a month of sporadic heatwaves, gardening sales also boomed by 286.1%. Meanwhile, footwear sales continued to spiral, declining by 10.7%.
Lucy Gibbs, managing consultant – Retail Insight at Capgemini said: “As summer comes to a close, we have seen a slowdown in the growth online and we expect to see some shifts in the category spending as we move into autumn. In particular, clothing seems to be returning to positive growth, boosted by the return to school and offices as well as further mobility. However, this may not be enough to capture the total lost sales during the summer pandemic period. Footwear, for example, is the only category to remain in negative growth since March, impacted by events and reduced wear throughout lockdown.
“The disrupted seasonal trends, and higher proportion of spend online has had a disproportionate impact on retailers without diverse product ranges or a strong online offering, and challenges in planning and supply chain. Retailers will need to remain reactive and innovative to prepare for the upcoming months; Government incentives have worked well to ignite spending on the high street, so with low consumer confidence and ongoing economic uncertainty, the discounting period around Black Friday could prove to be significant to regain sales. As many consumers have now shifted online, we can also expect significant growth in e-commerce during the festive period.”
