Online sales growth slows
Online retail sales rose 8.1 per cent year-on-year in November – the lowest increase since 2011, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
The market experienced its lowest ever growth for a Black Friday week. “While online retail appeared resilient to the struggles experienced on the high street during the first half of 2018 (when growth was up 16 per cent vs the first half of 2017), it is apparently now being impacted by the tough trading climate.”
The report found that the Health and Beauty sector was the main beneficiary of Black Friday, achieving 25.1 per cent growth, but gifts were down 10.3 per cent compared to last year.
Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG said: “One thing that is clear from our research is that heavy discounting had been going on far in advance of Black Friday, which lessens retailers’ capacity for grabbing attention by going into sale.
And Bhavesh Unadkat, principal consultant in retail customer engagement at Capgemini, said: “Despite high conversion this month where all weeks saw an increase in orders, the drop in average basket value has impacted the sales growth, suggesting that extended promotions have had an impact on revenue this year.”