On-line sales continue to power ahead

According to IMRG analysis, UK consumers spent 17% more online in June 2016 than they did last year.

This very strong performance came amid fears that retail spending would slow following the vote to leave the European Union. 

Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, said that it was too soon to say what effects the Brexit vote would have long-term. “However,” she said, “early signs from a recent IMRG poll of retailers found that around two-thirds of online merchants saw a slowdown in sales in the few days after the EU referendum, with most reporting sales appearing to recover to normal levels again afterwards.”

Bhavesh Unadkat, management consultant in retail customer engagement design at Capgemini, said: “It’s widely agreed that consumer confidence is falling, and this is something that is being heard from retailers across a myriad of sectors. As a result, it’s great to see that, both in the run up to the referendum and in the immediate aftermath, online sales growth remained strong. 

“These figures obviously don’t encapsulate the entire Brexit fall out, and the full impact of the referendum is something that we will not be able to wholly analyse for a number of months. In the meantime, retailers need to continue to focus on ensuring they give their customers every reason to shop with them.” 

While smartphone spending soared, growing in June by 69% year-on-year, sales made by tablets grew only 0.4%.

“Smartphones continue to take an increasing share of mobile commerce with year-on-year growth rates also surging ahead,” said Spooner. Conversely, sales completed on tablet devices flat-lined during June, which effectively means that all growth in mobile commerce came via smartphones last month.”

Source: Insight DIY Team