Online sales growth back to double-digit as Index reaches its 15th anniversary

18 May 2015

London – The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have revealed that online sales grew 13% year-on-year in April – following an unprecedented four months of single-digit growth.

April sales were up 4% month-on-month – a marked shift in the usual established trend of flat monthly growth between March and April, and the highest recorded for this period since 2007 – as online shoppers were apparently unaffected by the huge uncertainty around who would win the general election. April also saw the highest conversion rate yet seen in 2015 at 4.6%.

Improvements in average temperatures seemed to provide a boost to clothing – where sales growth was up 15%, its best performance in 2015 so far. The travel sector also continued to perform well in April – up 20% year-on-year – as people look to book their summer holidays.

Mobile continued to drive overall online sales growth. April’s figures show that mobile sales increased 52% year-on-year and 8% on March.

£640bn spent online in 15 years
The Index is celebrating its 15-year anniversary, after being launched in April 2000. Over that period online sales have rocketed by 11,000%, with an estimated £640bn spent online over its lifetime.

Alex Smith-Bingham, Head of Digital, Consumer Products and Retail, Capgemini, commented: “Today’s figures show a return to form for online retail. Shoppers are clearly more confident than ever and in the run up to the general election were feeling upbeat about their prospects for the future. The fact that conversion rates were so high goes to show that people weren’t just window shopping – they were going online ready to spend. With the economy continuing to improve I’m confident that online retail is on the up.”

Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer, at IMRG said: “The return to double-digit growth during April has resulted in overall growth of 9% year-to-date for the UK online retail market. Although this is still below our 2015 growth forecast of 12%, a number of sectors continue to outperform the total market including footwear, lingerie and accessories. The latest results also reveal that online browsers converted at the highest rate for April since 2009 – helping to fuel the 3.9% month-on-month rise between March and April, where the established trend is for flat growth.

“A separate survey of IMRG members has revealed that UK retailers believe a number of factors influenced the slowdown in e-retail growth during Q1 including market maturity, increased competition, less discounting resulting in consumers holding out for sales and promotions and also political and economic uncertainty. However, it is too early to say whether the single-digit growth recorded during Q1 was merely a blip and we will be monitoring developments very closely over the coming months.”

-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. Over one hundred e-retailers now regularly contribute data to the IMRG Capgemini Index, including:
A. Hume Country Clothing, 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, Ben Sherman, Berry Bros & Rudd, Blacks, Boden.co.uk, Boots, Brora, Buyagift.com, Carphone Warehouse, Charles Tyrwhitt, Clarks, Clinkards, Crocus.co.uk, Dabs.com, Damart, Debenhams, Deckers, Dunelm Mill, Effortless Skin, Ethical Superstore, Feelunique.com, Firebox, First Choice, Freemans Grattan Holdings (Freemans, Grattan, Look Again, Kaleidoscope, Curvissa, Swimear365, Witt International UK), Game, Get The Label, Greenfingers.com, Home & Cook, House of Fraser, HouseTrip.co.uk, JD Sports, JD Williams, John Lewis Partnership, Ladderstore.com, Lakeland Furniture, Liz Earle, LK Bennett, M and M Direct, Majestic Wine, Marks & Spencer, Millets, Moss Bros, Naked Wines, NaturalCollection.com, New Look, Next, Notonthehighstreet.com, PetPlanet.co.uk, PetsPyjamas.com, Pitchup.com, Prezzybox.com, QVC, Sainsbury’s, Scales Express, Schuh, Scotlight Direct, Scott, Screwfix.com, Shoe-Shop.com, Shop Direct Home Shopping (Kays, Littlewoods, Very, Very Exclusive, Isme, Woolworths), Serenata Flowers, Silentnight, Size, Sofa and Home, Sparkling Strawberry, Sunshine.co.uk, SuperGroup, Tesco.com, The Body Shop, The Great Gift Company, The Mat Factory, The White Company, TUI UK, Turton Wines, Waitrose, Wilkinson Hardware, Woods of Shropshire & 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 145,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2014 global revenues of EUR 10.573 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 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

Cloud

Management team

Artificial intelligence

Online sales growth back to double-digit as Index reaches its 15th anniversary

Related News

Client news

Valmet expands agreement with Capgemini to help enable its digital transformation

Partners

Capgemini’s leadership in generative AI recognised with Google Cloud Partner of the Year award

Reports

Only 6% of retail banks have built an enterprise roadmap to drive AI-driven transformation at scale

Related