Online sales grow by 15.4% in October

Online sales in the UK grew 15.4% in October compared with the same time last year, according to the BRC-KPMG Online Retail Sales Monitor for October. 

In October online sales represented 18.2% of total non-food sales, compared to 16.5% in October last year. This is the highest penetration rate since Christmas 2013.

Online sales also contributed 2.1 percentage points to the growth of non-food total sales in October. The three-month average contribution of online to non-food growth exceeded that of stores for the second consecutive month, achieving an all-time record proportion outside of December.

In contrast with stores, where a decline in clothing and footwear was recorded in October, the fashion categories achieved a good performance online, as a result of targeted incentives by retailers.

Helen Dickinson, director general at BRC, said: “Online sales took their largest slice of the pie of non-food sales growth since December 2013. October’s growth compared to last year was 3.3 percentage points faster, which bodes well for Christmas, especially as the proportion of online non-food sales was also the highest recorded since last Christmas.”

David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said: “Retailers proved themselves fleet of foot online, launching highly targeted offers to offset the unseasonal weather and give consumers that extra impetus to spend.”