Online Retail Sales Grow 16% In January

Digital Web
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The e-commerce industry exited January with flying colours, recording a 16% growth in sales compared with the same period of 2012, according to a report published by IMRG last week.

According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index of the UK’s industry association for online retail, e-commerce staged a 27% decline versus December 2012, which is not surprising following the busy Christmas shopping period.

Retail sales made via mobile devices and tablets jumped by a staggering 193% in January. Despite the impressive growth rate, it was below the 304% surge recorded for the full year of 2012, although mobile sales lost some momentum in the last month of the previous year increasing by just 207%. Meanwhile, conversion rates kept expanding, hitting 2.6% in January and scoring a new record following the 2.1% rate seen in December 2012.

The clothing industry recorded a 23% spike in sales, its best result since July 2011. The rise comes after a broadly unsatisfactory 2012 for the industry, when sales were hampered mainly by the sudden rain seen throughout the year.

Sales generated by online travel businesses went up by a shy 7% in annual terms, failing to meet projections for a busy January, which is traditionally the time when Britons start making reservations for their summer holidays. By comparison, the industry saw a 16% year-on-year increase in sales in January 2012 and 31% in January 2011. Britons, however, allocated larger sums on holidays in the first month of 2013, with the average spend reaching a record £1,085.

IMRG and Capgemini predict that the e-commerce industry will improve by 12% this year.