Online BWS sales grow ahead of market

By Lisa Riley

Published: 24 April, 2019

The beer, wine and spirits (BWS) category recorded 9.6% growth in online sales last month compared to March 2018.

The growth put the BWS category ahead of overall online retail sales, which grew by just 5% in March, according to the latest Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) Capgemini eRetail Sales Index.

While the impact of the late Easter this year, shifting from March to April, was felt across all sectors in March, you "may expect the BWS figures to reflect that, but the month-on-month growth between February and March was very similar for both years", said IMRG.

“The BWS sector has actually been performing relatively well since October even over what was a difficult Christmas trading period. The discounting has been particularly fierce among retailers over that period, so it may be that the BWS retailers are managing that better than some selling in other categories,” said strategy & insights director Andy Mulcahy.

Looking at overall online sales in March, online-only retailers fared slightly better than multichannel recording 8.9% and 5% respectively.

The IMRG Capgemini Index, which was started in April 2000, tracks 'online sales', which we define as 'transactions completed fully, including payment, via interactive channels' from any location, including in-store.

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