Are the wheels falling off the UK online retail juggernaut?

May continued the 2019 trend of below-average UK online sales growth, with just +1.9% year-on-year (YoY), according to research by IMRG and Capgemini.

There was at least more positive news on the m-commerce front, with mobile sales up in May by 8.4%; smartphones reached +35%, whilst tablets were flat at +0.3% against last year. Andy Mulcahy, Strategy and Insight Director, IMRG, notes that May 2018 was an exceptional month – with the early summer heatwave, royal wedding and a World Cup looming, people seemed happy to splash out. May 2019 was always going to be anchored by it. Nonetheless, 1.9% growth is far lower than might have expected.

“Indeed, it’s the lowest since we started tracking nearly 20 years ago, so it seems there is something more going on here,” he comments. “The fact is that retailers are caught in a perfect storm at the moment – with all the problems on the High Street, changing customer behaviour, shopper confidence low due to all the CVAs and negative coverage of major brands, a shifting competitive landscape, and, of course, even the weather is refusing to provide any relief.”

“It’s proving tough to find any positives in the sales performance at the moment,” he concludes.