Online mobile sales slow as summer comes to a close
UK online retail sales held steady this August, as shopper spending achieved +12.8% growth year-on-year (YoY).
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This in line with the three and twelve month rolling averages of +12.8% and +12.9%, but below the three-month average of +15.3%.
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M-retail (smartphones and tablets) growth hit an all-time low of +10% YoY.
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While smartphone growth still came in at +26.7%, it was the lowest growth since September 2014. This is a significant drop on last August?s +53.6%.
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Multichannel m-retail growth only stayed above water with +1% YoY growth. M-retail growth was up 15% YoY.
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Garden finally slowed down after enjoying blockbuster growth from this year?s heatwave. This is coming in at +2.8% YoY growth.
Online sales down across UK retail
Bhavesh Unadkat of Capgemini: ?We were expecting a much bigger downturn in August than we got given the effect of the hot summer.
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“The index was down on last month by less than 2%. This is the lowest decline compared to last four years, and one of best performance we?ve had coming out of July.
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“The August performance was driven by an uplift in the final week during the August bank holiday weekend. We started to see a change in the weather, driving autumn-wear and new season growth.?
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Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG: ?The main driver of growth in our index over the past few years has been smartphone devices.
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“Throughout 2016 sales growth through these devices was in the 75-100% range. In 2017 it slowed down to be in the 40-60% range, then as we?ve entered 2018 it has continued to decline.
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“This is expected, as very high growth cannot usually be sustained for long periods, but in August three points of note happened.
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“The first was that smartphone sales growth was at its lowest rate since September 2014. August 2018 was also the first time it has fallen below the 30% mark since then.
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“The second was that, looking at mobile devices, growth was at its lowest ever rate since we started tracking it in 2012.”
