Ecommerce UK suffers steepest May-June decline since 2008

The ecommerce industry in the United Kingdom experienced the weakest sales growth between May and June since the same period in 2008. And with 9% year-on-year growth in June, online sales in the Western-European country also recorded the lowest annual growth since July 2013.

A dip in consumer confidence and the short World Cup adventure for the English national team has had its not so positive impact on the online shopping industry in June. But there’s no direct need to worry, as the overall performance in the first quarter of this year has been positive with a 16% annual growth rate.

According to the latest results from the e-Retail Sales Index from IMRG and Capgemini it was the fact British shoppers avoided buying expensive luxuries that recorded the weakest performance in June. The travel sector grew by 3% year-on-year, but last month it meant that it was the lowest annual growth in this sector since July 2013. The electricals sector, also kwown for its big ticket items, grew by just 7% year-on-year.

“It’s fair to say June was not a good month for British sport and the poor performance in the electricals sector suggests Britons were not too interested in buying new technology to watch the action, whilst higher than average temperatures and lots of sunshine kept customers outdoors”, says Tina Spooner, CIO at IMRG.

“Online sales during H1 have been generally consistent with our earlier growth forecast of 17%, but at 14%, the lowest quarterly growth in two years, Q2 has been heavily skewed by June’s poor performance”, says Chris Webster, VP, Head of Retail at Capgemini. But there’s also some positive news. The conversion rate rose to 4.8% last month, which corresponds to the highest rate for June since 2008. The average basket value recorded £83 (€104.6), which is up 5% from last year.