Spending at major British online retailers was 3.2 percent higher in September than in the same month last year. This marks the first growth since April 2021. After nearly 3.5 years, a turning point has been reached, just as in other European countries.
British online spending saw significant growth in the first two weeks of September, according to the IMRG Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of 220 big market players. It is the first growth in 41 months.
Online fashion is recovering
After the COVID peak, online spending declined since spring 2021, affecting British online fashion giants such as Asos and Boohoo. Last September, online spending on fashion was 4.2 percent higher than in the same month last year, according to IMRG. This marks the first increase in exactly 24 months in this category.
Brits spent 4.2% more on fashion online in September.
Although total online spending in the second half of September lagged last year’s figures, IMRG notes that the monthly figures are encouraging: “After such a long and miserable period of decline, it feels like there are cautious reasons for optimism”, says IMRG’s Andy Mulcahy.
More traffic, better conversion
IMRG observes “a sustained recovery in traffic growth over the past two months”, according to Mulcahy, “plus marginally better conversion”, adds the Strategy and Insight Director at the association for ecommerce in the United Kingdom. “So it feels like we are perhaps inching toward more reliable performance for ecommerce, which is great news for retailers approaching peak.”
Germany and the Netherlands
Not only in the United Kingdom do online retailers seem to have left the post-COVID dip behind. In Germany, nominal ecommerce growth is expected this year after two years of declining online revenues among the top thousand online retailers. Online product spending is also on the rise in the Netherlands. According to the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, Dutch consumers spent 1 percent more on products in the first half of this year than in the first half of 2023.
