Cold snap sees shoppers warm to online retailers

UK online retailers received a Beast from the East boost in February, with sales up +13.1% year-on-year, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.

At the same time, however, the overall market conversion rate was 4.2%, down from 4.6% last year, although the average basket value (ABV) did rise by £11 YOY. Meanwhile, smartphone growth remained strong at +38.5%, but is slowing when compared to the +57% growth of last year. Tablets, on the other hand, continued their now four month long decline trend, decreasing -6.7% YOY, a record low for this device type.

Bhavesh Unadkat, Principal Consultant in Retail Customer Engagement, Capgemini, comments: “February’s sales patterns clearly demonstrate the power of extreme weather on shopping habits; as people avoid the High Street in favour of cosier shopping from their well-heated living rooms. As the snowy weather continued well into March we anticipate a continuation of this trend in next month’s results. We’d also draw attention to the performance of the US retail market, which has just reported its third consecutive month of falling sales. As the US market is often seen as ahead of the UK’s this could foreshadow a similar trend in the coming months. Fortunately for internet retailers, the US reported +1% online sales growth.”