A mild performance by some online retail brands in October has not stopped e-retail association IMRG predicting a bumper year for online Christmas shopping. Figures published via the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show that though growth in online shopping continued in October with a 14 per cent rise on the previous year, some sectors performed better than others.
In particular, online clothing sales suffered due to the unusually warm weather for the month, which led shoppers to delay updating their winter wardrobe. With the winter weather now firmly setting in and snow predicted for December, online retailers such as JD Williams could now see a surge in orders as people choose to wrap up warm and buy presents to wrap.
Indeed, IMRG have predicted that over £7.75 billion will be spent online by consumers this Christmas as they stock up from gifts such as books, DVDs and clothes from online brands. In separate research, YouGov reveal that one third of shoppers plan to splash out on Christmas this year despite continuing financial constraints. The survey also revealed that over half of those surveyed intended to give gifts of clothing this Christmas, potentially improving the sales of online clothing retailers and catalogues.
