Online sales growth was 'solid' in October despite being the slowest month so far this Autumn.
In was is being widely read as evidence that shoppers are shoring up their finances ahead of the Christmas rush, sales grew 15 per cent, slower than the previous two months.
Internet trade body IMRG said that compared to 18 per cent and 20 per cent growth in August and September respectively. The market has growth 16 per cent so far this year.
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, said: 'The month-on-month growth between September and October was actually far lower than is usual, at just 0.5 per cent compared with the rate of 4-8 per cent we have seen over the past five years.'
'However, this is following the strongest online sales growth recorded between August and September in 13 years. Coming off the back of a strong comparator last October, the performance is still strong and bodes well for a positive Christmas for online retail,' she said.
The survey also found that conversion rates from shopper traffic into sales were 4.7 per cent - the highest since November 2012. In the six month period from May to October, total online retail saw a conversion rate of 4.6 per cent, compared with 3.9 per cent during the same period in 2012.
Chris Webster, vice-president of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, which produces the figures with IMRG, said: 'It's great to see that m-commerce conversions are slowly increasing, but it's important to note that conversion rates are still higher for laptops and PCs. Whilst tablet devices are used for sofa surfing in front of the TV and browsing on our smartphones is a perfect way of making use of the daily commute, when it comes to serious shopping, many of us still prefer the PC experience.'
The mild weather impacted clothing sales, which increased at just 9.6 per cent, down 4 per cent on the previous month and compared to growth of 17 per cent in the year to date. Electrical sales saw some of the strongest growth.
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