Online sales still high despite downturn
IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index for March 2008, shows retailers are taking advantage of their online channel.
23 April 2008
Publication
The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index shows that despite weak high street sales,
shoppers are being driven to use online channels to flex their purchasing powers.
The index highlights that UK shoppers spent £13 billion online during the first
quarter of 2008.
Consumers are now spending an average of £12 online, which is a threefold increase
in comparision to £9 five years ago. The biggest spend occured during the Easter
holidays with nearly £850bn spent during that period.
Anthoula states: “The poor Easter weather appears to have paid off for online
retailers as more people seem to have spent more time inside, shopping online
in March. Interestingly, people in the UK don’t appear to be curbing their drinking
as the online beer, wines and spirits sector saw a huge increase in sales of more
than 25% in the first week of March alone. The looming budget may have spurred
people on to stock up on alcohol before the increase in taxes,”
“Adding to this, we have seen poor trading results for pubs in light of the bad weather and perhaps more smokers are drinking at home. The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show that the future is not all ‘doom and gloom’ for retailers – yet it underlines that online is an essential channel for retailers to survive in such unstable conditions.”
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To read the press release, click here.
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