May was a good month for users of e-commerce fulfilment,
with Internet retail surging, according to the most recent Online
Retail Sales Monitor of the British Retail Consortium. However, a
supermarket price war meant that sales were not so strong on the high
street, as revealed by the accompanying BRC KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.
The
month saw 17 per cent growth in the Internet sales of non-food
products, meaning that they represented 18.7 per cent of all UK retail
sales. Sales a year earlier - in May 2013 - had risen by 9.9 per cent.
By contrast, in May 2014, there was a mere 2 per cent increase in total
UK retail sales compared to the same point the previous year, and
like-for-like sales only saw a 0.5 per cent rise.
KPMG
head of retail, David McCorquodale, described the figures as reflecting
a "race to the bottom" by supermarkets reducing prices to maintain
volumes. He said that the "price war" was "hindering the retail sector's
overall recovery, which without the effects of these cuts would have
seen like-for-like sales outpace inflation over the last quarter."
Among
online sales, there was especially pronounced growth in the clothing
and footwear categories, neither of which had recorded such strong
figures since late 2012. Helen Dickinson, BRC director general, also
cited broader ranges as helping to power online growth.
She
commented: "Britain's fashion retailers are leading the way in
developing their digital offering for discerning customers and that is
really paying off in resulting sales figures.
"This
month sees the highest growth in online sales of clothing for five
months and the proportion of purchases we are making online has grown
several percentage points in a year. This also represents the highest
penetration ever recorded for clothing since the inception of the online
monitor. Footwear is telling a similar story where great websites and
good online service have led to the second-highest proportion of
footwear sales online ever recorded by our monitor."
Not
only were such ranges as games consoles and garden furniture broadening
with the consequence of higher sales, said Dickinson, but World
Cup-themed products were also beginning to be sold, "across all gender
and age groups."
There
were many lessons to be gleaned from the figures by the users of
e-commerce fulfilment services, added McCorquodale, who said that it was
"vital" for the "unbridled insight" into customer behaviour given to
retailers by the rise of online to be used in their strategies.
He
observed: "Online sales surged ahead in May, driving a third of
non-food sales growth for retailers over the quarter and underscoring
the importance of having a strong multichannel business. As the shift to
online slowly continues, retailers must invest in analysing the data
they are gathering about their online customers and use this to improve
their total proposition."
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