16/02/12
By Karen Moss
Figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index have revealed that UK shoppers spent a total of £6 billion online during January. That is equivalent to £118 per person, a year-on-year growth of 16 per cent.
When compared with the High Street and wider retail sector, the continued resilience of e-tail in the face of economic uncertainty is clear. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a disappointing start to the year, with the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers indicating a year-on-year growth of just 2.1 per cent.
This poor result comes on the back of a continued decline in inflation, which suggests more needs to be done to reinvigorate consumer spending on Britain’s High Street.
Travel sales bounced back in January, following five consecutive months of decline, with sales soaring 205 per cent on December.
Outside of travel, January saw a steep decline on December, with alcohol reporting a drop of 66 per cent - a result, no doubt, of Brits looking to detox after Christmas. The clothing sector saw a monthly decline of 38 per cent and while a drop in January across all sectors is typical, sales of clothing have recorded low levels of year-on-year growth for the third consecutive month, likely to be a result of the relatively mild winter.
Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini says: “There’s little cheer in these results for retailers. While the consumer price inflation is steadily decreasing, it has thus far failed to reinvigorate consumer spending. The steady march of customers moving from the high street to online channels continues and if anything, accelerates as savvy shoppers look to make their wages stretch further.”
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