Online retail sales increased 13 per cent year-on-year last month despite a continued slowing of mobile sales, figures released today reveal.
According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, nearly all sectors reported double-digit growth though average basket values declined as average spend reached is lowest level since October 2008.
However, products linked to Valentine‘s Day performed strongly over the month, with the average spend across the Gifts, Healthy & Beauty products and Lingerie sectors rising 36 per cent, eight per cent and nine per cent respectively.
Although mobile sales jumped 184 per cent on a year earlier, this represents a significant slowdown on February 2012 when sales grew 304 per cent year-on-year and the index warned that “there has been a notable dip in the level of growth over the past few months”.
Conversion rates, however, have risen and now remain consistent, reaching 2.3 per cent last month and IMRG‘s Chief Information Officer Tina Spooner believes this is a positive sign of the strength of m-commerce.
Spooner commented: “The mobile growth rate has slowed by around a third over the last 3 months or so compared with 2012, which is perhaps inevitable after the boom in tablet sales last year that has no doubt driven it.
“As the use of mobile devices as internet portals has also become widespread, it has turned mobile into a viable sales channel as evidenced by the rise in conversion rate.”
