IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index: Second-lowest June growth for online retail sales since 2001

June’s results follow a slowdown in May, which may have been influenced by the snap election in addition to other factors such as rising inflation. Breaking the growth down by weeks of the month, we can trace potential impact of the election (which was on 8 June) on shopping patterns:

The very warm weather in June encouraged people to go out to high streets, with June’s total footfall reported as being up 0.8% up on the same month last year[2]. This may have contributed to a contrast in fortunes for online-only retailers (up +11.7%, but down substantially on +31.4% last year) and multichannel retailers (+8%, same as last year) who may have benefited from use of click and collect orders.

A number of sectors recorded negative growth including electricals (-13.9%), gifts (-8.2%) and accessories (-1.4%). It’s possible that shopper awareness of Amazon’s Prime Day may have suppressed spend in June too as people held back their spend for the July event.

Justin Opie, managing director, IMRG: “Online retailers are facing something of a perfect storm at the moment, having to operate against the backdrop of a continuing wave of political uncertainty, rising inflation, a changing retail calendar (due to impact of major sales days such as Prime Day) and heatwaves. The low growth online during election week (+3.4%) strongly suggests that the election did exert some influence over shopping behaviour as did, arguably, the weather – albeit in a much more ‘omnichannel’ sense. Sales growth for online-only retailers was down almost 200% year-on-year, while for multichannel retailers growth held at the same rate as last year – quite possibly buoyed by the appeal of click and collect orders to provide a bit of certainty for their trips to the high street.”

Bhavesh Unadkat, principal consultant in retail customer engagement, Capgemini: “Despite a relatively flat June overall, the month saw some significant sector specific movements in both directions. Summer sun and celebrations drove beers, wines and spirits to its highest June year-on-year (YOY) growth since 2014. On the other side of the coin, accessories saw its first ever YOY decline since we began tracking it in 2008 – To give you some perspective, its average YOY growth is 48%. This is potentially caused by a fall in consumer confidence given current political and economic challenges, driving down spending on luxuries. Other worthy mentions include electricals, which has had the first June decline since 2003, likely to be caused by the ‘Amazon Prime effect’. In short, a month of ups-and-downs leading to an overall pretty weak June.”

-ENDS-

[1] The weeks of June were as follows according to the Index classification:

·         04/06/2017

·         11/06/2017

·         18/06/2017

·         25/06/2017

[2] http://www.retail-systems.com/rs/UK_High_Street_Footfall_Boosted_By_Warm_Weather.phpAbout 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

With more than 190,000 people, Capgemini is present in over 40 countries and celebrates its 50^th Anniversary year in 2017. A global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, the Group reported 2016 global revenues of EUR 12.5 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology and digital solutions that fit their needs, enabling them to achieve innovation and competitiveness. A deeply multicultural organization, 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.capgemini.com.

Rightshore^® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini