IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index: e-Retail confidence helps online sales go from strength-to-strength

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG: “Growth in the UK e-retail sector shows no sign of abating, with the Index performance coming in ahead of our expectations last month. In fact, looking at the combined results for January and February it is evident that we have seen the strongest start to the year since 2011.

“The exceptionally wet weather during February undoubtedly helped boost online sales as shoppers shunned the high street. It is interesting to see the pureplay merchants not only outperformed the multichannel retailers in terms of year-on-year e-retail growth, but also recorded a 6% annual rise in average transaction value. Conversely, the average online order value for the multichannel merchants remained unchanged from February last year.”
 
Chris Webster, VP, Head of Retail Consulting and Technology at Capgemini: “The continued growth of e-retail demonstrates the overall strength of consumer confidence and leads one to believe the disappointing February overall figures are most likely a result of the wet weather.  Strong spending on home & garden and lingerie for Valentine’s Day also show people investing in homes and relationships further increasing the feel good factor.
 
“As a small aside, it is would be nice to know if the strong increase in footwear year-on-year was caused by a surge in demand for wellies and waders; unfortunately, there are some things our e-Retail Index cannot tell.”

– ENDS –

Notes:
About the ‘IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index’
The IMRG Capgemini Index, which was started in April 2000, tracks ‘online sales’, which we define as ‘transactions completed fully, including payment, via interactive channels’ from any location, including in-store. 
Over one hundred e-retailers now regularly contribute data to the IMRG Capgemini Index, including A. Hume Country Clothing, Addict, Airport Parking & Hotels Ltd, Amara, Arcadia Group (Burton, Top Man, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Wallis, Miss Selfridge), Ask Direct, ASOS.com, B&Q, Bank, Berry Bros & Rudd,  Binends.com, Blacks, Boden.co.uk, Boohoo.com, Boots Direct, Boutique to You, Brora, Buyagift.com, Carphone Warehouse, Charles Tyrwhitt, Clarks, Cocosa, Crocus.co.uk, Dabs.com, Damart, Debenhams, Deckers, Dune, Dunelm Mill, Effortless Skin, Ethical Superstore, Firebox, First Choice, Freemans Grattan Holdings (Freemans, Grattan, Look Again, Kaleidoscope, Curvissa, Swimear365, Witt International UK), Game, Gamestation, Get The Label, Getting Personal.co.uk, Greenfingers.com, Hobbs, Home & Cook, House of Fraser, JD Sports, J D Williams, John Lewis Partnership, Ladderstore.com, Lastminute.com, LK Bennett, Lookfantastic.com, M and M Direct, Majestic Wine, Marks & Spencer, Matalan, Millets, Moss Bros, Naked Wines, NaturalCollection.com, New Look, Next, Perfect Handbags Perricone MD, PetPlanet.co.uk, Philip Kingsley, PIXmania, Prezzybox.com, Purely Gadgets, QVC, Redfoot Revolution, Richer Sounds, Sainsbury’s, Scales Express, Schuh, Scotlight Direct, Scott, Shoe-Shop.com, Shop Direct Home Shopping (Brand Quarter, Kays, Littlewoods, Very, Isme, Woolworths), Serenata Flowers, Size, Sofa and Home, Sparkling Strawberry, Sunshine.co.uk, SuperGA, Tesco.com, The Body Shop,  The Mat Factory, The Natural Skincare Co, , The White Company, This is Pulp, ToxicFox, TUI UK, Turton Wines, Waitrose, Wilkinson Hardware & Wynsors World of Shoes.
About IMRG
IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) is the UK’s industry association for e-retail. Formed in 1990, IMRG is setting and maintaining pragmatic and robust e-retail standards to enable fast-track industry growth, and facilitates its community of members with practical help, information, tools, guidance and networking. The strength of IMRG is the collective and cooperative power of its members. For more information please visit http://www.imrg.org/ or email membership@imrg.org 
About Capgemini
With more than 130,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2013 global revenues of EUR 10.1 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business and technology solutions that fit their needs and drive the results they want. A deeply multicultural organisation, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business Experience^TM, and draws on Rightshore^®, its worldwide delivery model.
Learn more about us at www.uk.capgemini.com.
Rightshore^® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini