Online retail sales hits lowest-ever annual growth in January

Month-on-month sales fell 22%, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Index, which was in line with usual post-Christmas trend.

Capgemini vice president of retail Chris Webster said: “While annual growth for e-retail was slow in January, we should factor in the fact that December was a very strong month for the industry. Last January, e-retailers’ sales were buoyed up by heavy discounting and promotions that were necessary to sell stock left over from poor Christmas trading resulting from the impact of the recent move into recession”.

Clothing and footwear continued to drive online growth with like-for-like sales ahead 10% in January.

Faith Shoes head of ecommerce Talin Vartevanian “Faith.co.uk saw really strong growth in January against last year. Gross sales were up 128%, visits up 35% and orders up 117%. The adverse weather had a positive impact on online sales and apart from a natural downturn in revenue after the Christmas peak, Faith.co.uk continues to maintain its momentum with positive growth against last year.”

The IMRG expects online sales to grow 14% year-on-year this year to hit £57bn.