IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index: Online retail sales growth suppressed again in January

January growth was actually marginally above the 3-month average of +6.3% (YoY), but that was largely due to December’s record-low performance. When looking at the 6- and 12- month averages, January fell below the growth rates of +7.9% and +11.2% respectively.

Health and Beauty continues to resist the struggles of the overall index, enjoying a +8.1% (YoY) growth in January. However, it was a bleaker month for Gifts and Electricals, which recorded -25.8% and -19.1% respectively.

Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG, said: “2019 could well prove to be a very challenging year, and the January growth was a slight improvement on the recent difficult trading conditions.

“The discounting that has been rife since all the way back in July continued into January as expected due to post-Christmas clearance – the challenge for retailers now is how to ease off the reliance on discounting for driving sales. As we’ve moved into February, many sites have either switched off discounting or lessened the prominence of such offers. It’s now a matter of holding nerve, but the positive thing for clothing retailers is the weather – it has been very mild and sunny for this time of year, so that may help to stimulate activity on spring ranges that isn’t linked to discounting; you should never underestimate the potential impact of the British weather on retail.”

Bhavesh Unadkat, principal consultant in retail customer engagement, Capgemini: “January growth was half that of last year and below the 5-year average for the month, failing to recuperate sales from the poor performance in December 2018.

“The cautious start to the year is unsurprising given that pressures on the retail sector remain high as a result of further store closure announcements, continued low consumer confidence and economic uncertainty as we hold our breath, and our spending, ahead of further news on how the UK will exit the EU.  

“One area where we are seeing a big impact is electricals with continued YoY declines, often correlated to the confidence index, coupled with decreasing basket values there is an indication that customers continue to hold back on spending, especially in the more luxurious and higher ticket categories.”

-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 over 200,000 team members in more than 40 countries. The Group reported 2018 global revenues of EUR 13.2 billion.

Visit us at www.capgemini.com. People matter, results count.