E-commerce sales remained solid in September despite the month being the weakest so far this year for the retail sector as a whole.
Online sales, excluding food, rose 13.4 per cent compared to the same month last year and contributed a third of the sector's overall growth in the past quarter. Total retail sales increased 2.4 per cent in the month.
The rise in internet shopping was ahead of the 11 per cent increase in online sales seen over the past 12 months. Sales over the internet now represent 17.5 per cent of total non-food sales. said the BRC, which mainly measures sales at larger retailers.
'Online sales were again the stand out performer, growing by double digits, and contributed strongly to non-food sales such as electricals and leisure items,' said Helen Dickinson, director general of the BRC launching the Online Retail Sales Monitor - a more in depth analysis of the online sector than it has previously done - as part of its sales report for the first time.
Dickinson said that, without the contribution of online sales growth, clothing and footwear would have declined in September.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said of the weak overall picture for the retail sector: 'These figures are a reality check and will make retailers nervous as we enter the run up to Christmas. Unseasonably warm weather stifled sales of autumn and winter collections in September and the recovery in home related items flattened.'
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