The British Retail Consortium's monthly sales tracker has thrown up another seemingly anomalous result for online sales - the second this year after a similar effect in March.
The consortium said sales growth slowed in July to an increase of just 7.9 per cent compared to a year earlier.
On one hand growth was under pressure last month. John Lewis said online sales early in July ground to a virtual halt because shoppers were heading for their gardens and local parks in the heatwave rather than shopping.
What's more, the BRC said the growth was compared to a strong week a year earlier when it recorded internet sales in July grew by 15.6 per cent.
But John Lewis also said last week that sales later in July rebounded strongly as shoppers got used to the heatwave. And with this year showing such strong growth and such a concerted effort - particularly from high street retailers - to grow online - we think the 7.9 per cent figure just seems too low.
The apparent slowdown recorded by the BRC also brings to mind the its call for the month of March when it said online sales grew 6.6 per cent. We called into question that figure at the time. The same month the Office of National Statistics recorded an increase in online sales of 20.5 per cent - 11.5 per cent seasonally adjusted.
Meanwhile, that same month, Barclaycard said online sales rose 12 per cent and the IMRG said the increase was 13 per cent.
As usual with this kind of statistic its always good to have a number of sources and to triangulate. But we are beginning to wonder about the BRC's fluctuations in online sales and whether it is skewed towards a small number of large retailers, affecting its results for the online sector.
Meanwhile, it said total sales in July - including stores - increased 3.9 per cent compared to a year earlier. That was the fastest July growth since 2006.
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