| | Internet Retailing reports that according to the BRC-KPMG Online Retail Sales Monitor for May, over a fifth of UK retail sales took place online for the fifth month in a row. The contribution of online to overall sales grew as that of stores fell, suggesting a movement away from in-store shopping and towards online.
According to the figures, ecommerce sales of non-food products (accounting for about 55% of all UK retail sales) grew by 13.7% last month to account for 21.2% of all retail sales, taking the three-monthly average growth to 9.9%.
At the same time, overall retail sales grew by 1.4% in total, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for the month, and by 0.5% on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the effect of store openings and closures, and of business acquisitions and sales. BRC analysis showed that the online contribution to overall sales grew by 2.2 percentage points, while stores’ contribution fell by 1.7 percentage points.
Retailers saw growth in all categories online, said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, with clothing proving particularly popular, along with toys and baby equipment. |