UK online retail sales in the first half of 2019 slumped to their lowest ever growth rate of just 5.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers with a combined annual spend of £28bn. Lingerie was among the sectors that saw the lowest growth.
In first half of 2018, online retail sales had registered a year-on-year growth of 16.9 per cent, with consumer spending buoyed by events like the Royal wedding, World Cup and the Spring heatwave. The slowdown in growth during January-June 2019 was also broadly reflected across the sectors, with all but three recording reduced but still positive increases. Health & beauty (+13.0 percent), home & garden (+9.3 percent), and clothing (+7.3 percent) saw the strongest growth. Clothing in particular had a substantially better Q2 (+11.2 percent YoY growth) than Q1 (+2.6 percent YoY), due to the hot weather and retailers starting their summer sales early.
Looked at individually, one of the largest YoY declines in growth was seen in garden (-34.4 percent), although this reflected a fall from a particularly high growth rate in H1 last year thanks to the standout weather from April onwards. Elsewhere, the sectors which fared worst were electricals (-22.7 percent), gifts (-22.8 percent) and lingerie (-8.9 percent), all of which have experienced a continuous decline in sales over the past six months.
UK online retail sales in the first half of 2019 slumped to their lowest ever growth rate of just 5.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index, which tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers with a combined annual spend of £28bn. Lingerie was among the sectors that saw the lowest growth.
