IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index: Online retail growth stays strong in June as World Cup fever hits UK

Unsurprisingly, the largest sector increase was seen in Garden, with a +49.9% YoY growth as the nation prepared for World Cup barbeques and basked in the hot weather. This was followed by Clothing, with the sunny weather inspiring a YoY growth of +19.3%, including a +23.9% growth for accessories and +22.7% growth for footwear. Health & Beauty and Gifts sales were slightly more subdued, with +9.9% and +10.5% YoY growth respectively.

Bhavesh Unadkat, principal consultant in retail customer engagement, Capgemini: “June has seen continued buoyant sales online, strongly influenced by fashion and seasonal items.  This has boosted non-essential spend while customers make the most of the buzz created by the good weather and the World Cup. We might question what the longer term effect is as Barclaycard report that 1 in 3 Brits have spent more than normal so far this summer. This could result in a slowdown as customers align the potential overspend so far this summer in the later months of the year, supported by 4 in 10 saying they will hold off purchasing big ticket items.  Electrical and Home sectors have the lowest June YoY growth in the last 5 years, a reminder of caution during political uncertainty and upcoming interest rate increases”

Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG: “Sales growth for UK online retail has been consistently strong so far in 2018 – in spite of the fact that there are signs of a slowdown underway. The smartphone has been the main device accounting for that high growth, yet despite sales being up +34% through these devices in June, it was actually the lowest growth rate for smartphones since October 2014.

“The reason that this lower rate is not causing a wider slowdown in the overall index is likely due to the fact that smartphones now account for over one-third of total online retail sales. For many people, they are either already, or well on their way to becoming, the device of choice for browsing and shopping in most contexts.”

-ENDS-

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.

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

A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients’ opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business value of technology comes from and through people. It is a multicultural company of 200,000 team members in over 40 countries. The Group reported 2017 global revenues of EUR 12.8 billion.

Learn more about us at www.capgemini.com.

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