Christmas comes early for online retailers
Online retailers should inaugurate gearing up for the Christmas period as the festive sales crest is set to come earlier than ever, according to a fresh study.
Online Christmas sales are expected to be 16 per cent higher than final year with expected online sales of £6.4bn, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
British shoppers be in possession of already spent a total of £4.8bn online during September, marking a year-attached-year growth of 24 per cent, bucking the recent fall in sales ~ward the high street.
According to IMRG, the major product areas join with to top consumers’ wishlists are beers, wines and spirits, electrical effects, and health and beauty products.
“What we’ve seen is that sales of gifts be obliged increased slightly earlier this year, soaring 32 per cent in September year forward year,” said Tina Spooner, director of information at IMRG.
“That is earlier than usual – usually we see a spike in October and I take it perhaps consumers are trying to spread the cost of Christmas more than a longer period; perhaps over another pay cheque.”
She added that multi-cut ~s in retailers are best placed to capitalise on the demand, as their sales increase has outperformed that of 'pureplay' retailers that have an online carriage only, and catalogue retailers that also have an online presence.
“Multi-chamfer retailers – those with a presence on the high street and online - be in possession of historically been outperforming the rest of the market,” said Spooner.
In the capital fiscal quarter of 2010, multi-channel retailers increased their sales ~ dint of. 22 per cent year on year, 27 per cent in the inferior quarter and 26 per cent in the third quarter, compared by the same period last year. This marks an overall 25 by means of cent increase year on year.
In comparison, online pureplay and online roll retailers’ growth has been relatively modest, with revenue from the rudimentary quarter of 2010 seeing a one per cent reduction year without interrupti~ year, a two per cent increase in the second quarter year on year, and a 14 per cent increase in the third abide.
“It’s very clear from these figures that multi-way retailers are outperforming the rest of the market.”
Spooner furthermore sees an opportunity for savvy retailers to capitalise on Christmas call by launching their own mobile commerce sites.
“Recent months gain seen a number of multi-channel retailers launching their own variable websites – John Lewis and Marks & Spencer are two. This shows that clearly in that place’s a demand in the mobile space.”