Online Retail Sales Held Up Well in April

April’s results paint a similarly mixed picture at a category level. In the anticipation of sunshine, socialising and summer holidays, clothing sales continued their reversal in fortunes, up +60.9% overall and as high as +98.9% for womenswear.  While this compares to a dramatic drop in sales last year (-25.1%), it does show that people are starting to plan for the end of government restrictions.

On the flip side, April also saw a reduction in health and beauty (-9%), electrical (-3.7%) and garden sales (-13.3%), all of which have been on a run of phenomenal sales since the start of the first government-imposed lockdown. For both electricals and garden, this was the first negative result in 19 and 15 months respectively.

Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG: “What impact did the reopening of the high street have on retail? Several large retailers I have spoken to say the first week was amongst the strongest they have seen across online and retail platforms; one even recorded their biggest day ever overall. While online growth might have dropped away from +70-80% between January and March to +10% in April, this is largely as growth rates are now comparing with pandemic-period rates from 2020, which were so strong that it is hard to build upon that performance.

“In January, we mapped out how growth could look if things go relatively well for online, relatively badly, and somewhere in the middle. In April, retail generally seems to have done well, and the rate of online growth is currently somewhere between average and good in that forecast. As people get more options for spending their money in later May and into June, that will provide a sterner test.”

Lucy Gibbs, managing consultant – Retail Insight, Capgemini: “This month’s +10% increase on 2020 is particularly impressive when considering last April’s +44% Year-on-Year growth. It has been over a year since the first UK lockdown therefore growth online on top of this is significant. 

“We can see the impact of the re-opening of the high street when we look at Month-on-Month figures, however, despite the strong growth; we would typically see April compared to March as flat, however this year April is -12.0% lower. This trend can also be seen in retail type, as multichannel retailers dropped to +5.7% growth in April versus last year, whereas online-only retailers maintained growth in line with the beginning of the year at +20%.

“Clothing continues to rebound, up +50% and +70% across multichannel and online-only respectively as pent-up demand combines with increased consumer confidence. Overall, the story this month is a positive one for retail as we start to emerge from our homes – online remains key, however tough comparators over the next few months will be challenging to match.”

-ENDS-

Disclaimer

The IMRG Capgemini Sales Index was adjusted in August 2020 to reflect updated historic figures from our retail panel. Previously reported results have been recalibrated to provide a more accurate view of the market index.

About the ‘IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index’

The IMRG Capgemini Online Retail 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.

*Please note from January 2020 the Index no longer includes data from the travel sector

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

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of 270,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50 year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2020 global revenues of €16 billion.

Get the Future You Want | www.capgemini.com