Online retail spending stutters after England World Cup exit

UK online retail sales slipped to their lowest year-on-year (YoY) growth in 2018 so in July, as consumer spending “slumped” in the weeks following the end of World Cup.

According to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, online sales increased by just 10% (YoY) in July, below the three, six and twelve month rolling averages of 14.7%, 15% and 12.7% respectively.

According to the association, online retail saw record growth in the first half of 2018, and looked set to continue after the first week of July, with sales up by 14.4% (YoY). However, after England’s semi-final exit on 11 July online sales growth shrinked to +3.7%, +8.6% and +5.1% in the remaining weeks of the month.

Bhavesh Unadkat, principal consultant in retail customer engagement Capgemini, said: “A few factors contributed to the fall in online customer spending this month, but significantly last July saw a peak in conversion rate due to activity around Prime day – something that was not repeated this year.

“Combined with the decrease in overall site views and the highest increase in July basket value in over five years, it suggests that retailers have had to focus less on discounting and clearance; an effect of lower price-points throughout the year due to the competitive nature of the high street combined with good weather driving early summer spending.”

Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director IMRG, added: “The British weather is often the cause of much misery or joy for British retail, and July was no different. The main beneficiary of the prolonged heatwave in July was the garden sector, with 22.4% year-on-year growth, which is in contrast with recent difficulties experienced by some on the high street.”