UK Online Retail Sales See £5.46 Billion Consumer Spend in December
According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, UK online sales grew by 3.8% between November and December, which would be the equivalent of every person in the UK spending £88.93 online in December.
Jonathon Brown, head of online selling at John Lewis Direct, said, "It's worth noting that the launch of [John Lewis sale] Clearance online, from Christmas Eve, saw johnlewis.com take more than one order a minute in the first hour and continued to see strong sales throughout the festive period. We recorded our highest ever traffic day on Boxing Day."
All in all, online sales grew by 14% in 2009. The IMRG and Capgemini predict online retail will grow 13% in 2010.
Principal Retail Consultant at Capgemini, Jon Parry, said, "An interesting shift during this festive period is the strength of the monthly performance for multi-channel retailers [up 13%] versus their pure-play competitors [down 8%]. This shows both the high value consumers place on a multi-channel proposition, particularly when it comes to gift returns, and the trust advantage our high street brands have if they can get their online proposition right."