UK ecommerce breaks £4bn a month

Report shows 80% more sales

By OUT-LAW.COM, 21st August 2007

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July saw a massive jump in online retail, with sales rising 80 per cent on last year to a new all-time high, according to e-tail industry body IMRG.

The organisation's research indicates that UK online retail sales exceeded £4bn in a month for the first time.

IMRG reports that online sales for July totalled £4.2bn, £1.86bn higher than the figure for July 2006. By contrast, high street sales grew by just 3.3 per cent during July, according to National Statistics, to an average weekly value of £5bn, or roughly £20bn a month.

Jo Evans, managing director of IMGR said: "We were surprised by the strength of July's growth, so checked and rechecked the figures... then checked them again.

"This data is sound. It reveals the extent to which the retail sector is being transformed by frictionless ecommerce. Major brands are bringing on-stream the next generation of slick new internet retailing services, and consumers are flocking to use them. It's big players' success that is now driving e-retail growth and boosting the index."

Several factors contributed to July's very strong growth, including the very wet weather which inhibited travelling, encouraged people to shop online, and forced many people to replace water-damaged goods, according to IMRG. It also said many new-season catalogues are published at this time of year and their orders are now taken largely online. New or updated websites with greatly expanded product ranges, the continuing uptake in domestic broadband, and increasing consumer confidence were also cited as reasons for the surge in sales.

IMGR has been collecting sales data from numerous e-tailers since 2000.

OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.

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Posted Wednesday 22nd August 2007 09:53 GMT

Anonymous Coward

IMRG e-retailing stats

It might be worth noting the Daily Telegraph's comments on this organisation and its 'data'. 'Don't believe the hype...' says the Telegraph noting that IMRG are a 'self-appointed industry body for e-retailers'.

The data seems to have been extrapolated from a base of only 80-odd, mostly small retailers and IMRG won't even say who some of them are.

IMRG's claims in various areas are possibly worth some scrutiny before being accepted as approaching any known standards of accuracy.