Partner Article

Rain boosts UK online retail trade

The UK’s online retail sales surged by 80% to a record last month because of the rain. Many people who would otherwise have taken to the high streets stayed at home and used their broadband connections instead. Internet sales jumped to £4.2bn, compared to £2.34bn 12 months earlier, according to figures from London-based Interactive Media In Retail Group.

The three months up to the end of July were the wettest in more than 240 years, and the unseasonable weather appears to have boosted demand for home furnishings. However, it was electrical goods which saw the biggest hike in sales, which more than doubled from the year before. Online trade in clothes and accessories saw a 56% increase. Sales generally were also boosted by companies’ increased in e-retail and wider use of high-speed braodband connections to go online.

MRG’s chief executive, James Roper, comments: “July’s extraordinarily strong market growth spotlights the high level of consumer demand, and yet we are really only just beginning to see basic facilities arriving, and still have nowhere near enough capacity to meet shoppers’ appetite for e-retail, especially in areas such as parcel delivery, where huge improvements need to be made. With nearly half of homes yet to acquire broadband, and massive potential for improvement available in every aspect of it, strong e-retail growth is set to continue for many years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .