IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index: Impact of Black Friday still apparent for online retail

Revealingly, the Index illustrated the ripple effect of early discounting during Black Friday. Online sales of large ticket items within the electrical and home & garden sectors, which saw the biggest discounts in November, both recorded a 9% drop on January 2014.

However, a number of other sectors reported a more promising start to the year. Thanks to the cold weather, plus the introduction of many new lines, clothing saw a 14% year-on-year increase; accessories and footwear surged 40% and 20% respectively.

The travel sector also recorded a strong January, with online sales reaching 21% year-on-year; a 183% surge on December, and a four year high for this period.

British shoppers spent on average £81 per transaction in January, the highest average basket value seen in this month since January 2011.

Alex Smith-Bingham, Head of Digital, Consumer Products and Retail, Capgemini, commented: “January’s Index shows that we have entered 2015 with steady growth in e-retail sales, with a shift in spending to categories such as travel, which offered differentiated promotions in January compared to previous months.”

“However, growth is being held back slightly by other categories, such as electrical and home & garden, which have seen sluggish sales since Black Friday. This suggests that the Black Friday ‘hangover’ has continued into 2015, dampening the traditional sales spike in key, high value categories during the January sales.”

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer, atIMRG said: “The knock-on effect of Black Friday is clearly continuing to be seen for online retailers with the Index recording single-digit annual growth for the second consecutive month. Though the January growth rate seems low, this is directly connected to the record low increase of 5% seen in December. Interestingly the average basket value of £81 is the highest we’ve seen during January in four years – suggesting that there was less discounting this January as retailers shifted much of their stock over the Black Friday peak.”

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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, Alison at Home, Amara, Appliance House, Arcadia Group (Burton, Top Man, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Wallis, Miss Selfridge), Ask Direct, ASOS.com, B&Q, Bank, Berry Bros & Rudd, Blacks, Boden.co.uk, Boohoo.com, Boots Direct, Brora, Buyagift.com, Carphone Warehouse, Charles Tyrwhitt, Clarks, 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, Get The Label, Greenfingers.com, Hobbs, Home & Cook, House of Fraser, JD Sports, J D Williams, John Lewis Partnership, Ladderstore.com, LK Bennett, M and M Direct, Majestic Wine, Marks & Spencer,  Millets, Moss Bros, Naked Wines, NaturalCollection.com, New Look, Next, Perfect Handbags Perricone MD, PetPlanet.co.uk, Pitchup.com, Prezzybox.com, QVC, Redfoot Revolution, Richer Sounds, Sainsbury’s, Scales Express, Schuh, Scotlight Direct, Scott, Shoe-Shop.com, Shop Direct Home Shopping (Kays, Littlewoods, Very, Isme, Woolworths), Serenata Flowers, Size, Sofa.com, Sofa and Home, Sparkling Strawberry, Sunshine.co.uk, SuperGA, SuperGroup, Tesco.com, The Body Shop,  The Mat Factory, , The White Company, This is Pulp, TUI UK, Turton Wines, Waitrose, Wilkinson Hardware & Wynsors World of Shoes.
About IMRG
For over 20 years, IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) has been the voice of e-retail in the UK. We are a membership community comprising businesses of all sizes – multichannel and pureplay, SME and multinational, and solution providers to industry.
We support our members through a range of activities – including market tracking and insight, benchmarking and best practice sharing. Our indexes provide in-depth intelligence on online sales, mobile sales, delivery trends and over 40 additional KPIs.
Our goal is to ensure our members have the information and resources they need to succeed in rapidly-evolving markets – both domestically and internationally.
www.imrg.org 
About Capgemini
With more than 140,000 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