Online sales of non-food products in the UK increased by 10.3% in April, compared to the same month last year, according to the latest report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG.
Over the three months ending in April, online non-food sales grew by 8.2% year on year, and total non-food sales increased by 0.7%.
“April marked a reversal of the trend of slowing levels of growth for online non-food sales, with the strongest annual increase since November," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.
Easter Retail
The report alleges that this growth was due to the late timing of Easter this year.
"This pickup was mirrored in the overall non-food figure, which was distorted positively by the timing of Easter," said Dickinson. "Trendy consumer electronics continue to be online best-sellers, while toys and health and beauty products topped the Easter purchases."
Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, added, "For online retailers who eagerly awaited this year's late Easter, their patience paid off."
Online Growth
Although in-store sales increased during the Easter period, over the three months to April, in-store sales fell by 1.8% on a like-for-like basis.
However, in April 2017, online sales represented 21.6% of non-food sales in the UK, marking an increase of 0.5% on the previous April.
“The prominence of online retail is only set to continue, and critical to a retailer’s success will be their ability to effectively combine online and offline sales activities," said Martin.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
