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High Street Tracker
- Non-fashion -1.8 %
- Fashion -2.4 %
- Homewares -2.4 %
- Non-store +40.2 %
A little sun goes a long way as warm weather brings boost to April’s online retail sales
16th May 2013
Figures released on Thursday find the short spell of sunshine in April inspired consumers to spend online, with the online travel sector recording its first growth in sales between March and April since records began in 2009.
The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index found online retail sales rose 16 per cent year-on-year in April. Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG said that the results hailed the arrival of the “green shoots” of economic recovery, stating that “the momentum of online shopping in Q2 is even more evident.” Spooner said the Index performance in April is ahead of its 12 per cent e-retail growth forecast for 2012, resulting in average growth of 15 per cent for the year-to-date, adding that IMRG “expect UK.com to continue to dominate the retail picture as the recovery gathers greater momentum.”
Along with sales of holidays, beer, wine and spirits also performed well, with a 19 per cent increase on online sales compared to April last year. Sales rose 18 per cent month-on-month, after a slow first quarter recorded just 3 per cent growth for the category.
While electrical sales continue to flourish at Dixons Retail, who reported a 13 per cent rise in UK and Irish sales in its final quarter to 30 April on Thursday, the e-Retail Sales Index found online sales suffered from tough comparisons on the back of April 2012’s strong performance. Sales of electricals fell for the first time since July 2011, down 3 per cent year-on-year after a stellar performance in April 2012 which featured the launch of the iPad 3 and the final stages of the digital switchover.
Looking at the industry as a whole, IMRG and Capgemini suggested results from the Index pointed to a continuing trend between online-only retailers and those who operate both online and with a physical presence on the high street. Online retailers saw a growth of 20 per cent year-on-year in April, while multichannel reported a 14 per cent increase. Despite both online and multichannel strengthening over Christmas, the Index found that post-peak trading, the two diverged for the second year in a row, with online outperforming multichannel retailers.
Although the benefits of a multichannel operations have long dominated the headlines, these results suggest consumers are becoming more confident in using the internet as their only interaction with a brand. What’s more, it’s possible the adoption of new technologies and services such as mobile devices and a strong social media presence are becoming the new brand touch-points for shoppers increasingly using online-only retailers.
This pick-up continues to be reflected in the M-Commerce Index results, which recorded an 131 per cent year-on-year growth in April. The figure was a sharp slow-down from March’s impressive 243 per cent rise in sales via mobile devices, but IMRG and Capgemini said the “slowdown in growth is natural as the use of m-retail and mobile technology becomes more widespread”.
Chris Webster, VP, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini: “Although sales via mobile devices are slowing, the sector continues to grow as retailers invest in the technology to personalise the shopping experience. A rise in conversion rates suggests that consumers are using mobile devices to research and purchase goods online while on the move.”
The IMRG Capgemini Index began tracking online sales in April 2000, and defines these as transactions completed fully, including payment, via interactive channels from any location, including in-store.
Ava Szajna
My-Retail Media
Bringing bricks and mortar back into focus: Market analysis report from BCL/IPD
7th May 2013
The lacklustre performance of the bond market is driving an increasing number of UK institutional investors and particularly annuity funds to buy supermarket investments which can offer a risk/reward profile that is difficult to match.
Demand for supermarket assets from investors, and particularly institutions, remains at an exceptionally high level.
dot Brands: The next revolution in e-commerce
2nd May 2013
“During the next two years, the Internet will face one of the biggest transformations in its history” - so begins Afilias’s ‘dot Brand or dot What?’ report. According to the report, in 2011 ICANN, a body that governs web addresses, decided to allow companies to apply for their own generic top-level domains (gTLDs). The most interesting consequence of this decision is that consumers will see hundreds of new web extensions emerge alongside the well known .com, .co.uk and so forth. Once these new web extensions hit the web, the way that consumers search and navigate will be altered forever.
The changing face of the high street: PopUp Britain to launch King’s Road flagship
29th Apr 2013
PopUp Britain on Monday announced the opening of a flagship store on London’s iconic King’s Road, as it looks to continue supporting new retailers keen to establish their presence on the high street. As the retail arm of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain, PopUp Britain will launch its new London store on 9 May, with the capacity to hold up to twelve start-ups at a time.
“Mobile is the end game”: VeriFone discusses the future of payments as a service
18th Apr 2013
Faced with a blockbuster queue and stretched shop floor staff, a shopper’s patience to part with their money creeps closer to breaking point. Walking out of a bricks and mortar store and abandoning any attempt at purchasing a product already in hand is a retailing nightmare, yet it’s something most customers have done at least once, and a trend likely to increase with the rise of multichannel operations and one-click purchases.
Consumer trust and e-commerce: are your details safe online?
16th Apr 2013
Consumers who regularly bank, shop and pay online, admit they do not trust the companies they do online business with, according to new research from information security company, Integralis, looking at consumer attitudes to online security. In fact, one in four (25 per cent) of all respondents in the nationwide survey of 1,000 consumers said that they do not trust anyone to hold their personal details securely online.
Sales spring 10.5% as John Lewis celebrates strongest Easter results ever
12th Apr 2013
Don’t be fooled- an early Easter may have led to a 3.2 per cent fall year-on-year for John Lewis, but the department store is still coming up trumps when comparing apples to apples.
John Lewis announced on Friday its trading performance over the two weeks of Easter grew by 10.5 per cent when compared to the equivalent weeks last year, representing its strongest Easter results ever across all channels.
Behind the headlines: Insolvencies fall to lowest levels since 2005, but retailers continue to suffer
5th Apr 2013
The number of British companies falling into administration is at its lowest level since 2005 according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Yet it appears retailers continue to suffer.
BT Retailtopia2: the omnichannel supply chain of the future
26th Mar 2013
2012 was undoubtedly a tough year for British retail and, given the amount of businesses that have already fallen into administration this year, 2013 may not be much better. According to BT, 54 major retailers went under last year, making it the worst year for retail since the recession kicked off in earnest in 2008. The industry as a whole has seen some seismic shifts take place over the last decade; e-commerce is now considered an essential facet of any retail business, click-and-collect services are now ubiquitous and consumers are increasingly demanding round-the-clock services from transparent companies.
London tourists rein in spending as Mulberry issues second profit warning
22nd Mar 2013
The British heritage brand on Friday was forced to issue another profit warning after reduced tourist spending in London stores saw post-Christmas sales deteriorate.
Shares in the Somerset-based company, which is famous for its ‘Alexa’, ‘Bayswater’ and ‘Del Ray’ bags, fell 19 per cent on Friday to £10 following the unscheduled update, less than half its heights of £23.90 in April 2012.
