Online retail sales jump 12% in July

UK online retail sales surged 12% year-on-year in July and were up 15% when excluding travel, according to new data released today.

The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index also found that sales made via a mobile device, either a smartphone or tablet, saw annual growth of 42%.

At 5.1%, July featured the highest conversion rate so far recorded in 2015. Similarly, the average basket value – the amount spent on any one purchase – reached £78, the only month since January not to record a decrease on the same period in 2014.

Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, said: “During the early part of the year we saw fairly unpredictable growth rates in e-retail, but higher conversion rates and lower average basket values have seen consistent trends.

“However, while the percentage of online browsers converting to shoppers hit a high for the year in July, the average basket value remained unchanged from July 2014 – this follows five consecutive months of annual decline in average basket values.”

Alex Smith-Bingham, head of digital, consumer products and retail at Capgemini, said the continued solid performance of the index will be “reassuring” to the UK’s retailers, and is a clear reflection of the ongoing consumer confidence in the health of the economy.