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Strong BWS performance boosts soaring online sales

Overall online sales rose 16.4% year on year in November, which is the highest growth since April 2018, with BWS sales recording particular strong growth - up 37.3%, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index released today.

Further category analysis paints a similarly positive picture, with most categories recording double-digital growth. Clothing saw its highest sales increase - up 19.3%, since November 2016, while health and beauty reported growth of 43.9% .

After a year of dismal results, electricals also seems to be fighting back – reducing its previous double-digit sales plummet to just -2.58%, which is the best result of 2019 to date.

The strong overall result far exceeded the three-month, six-month, and 12-month rolling averages - up 10.7%, 7.7% and 6.1% respectively. It also marked a far higher month-on-month increase from October (+54%) than usual.

After a year of very weak demand online, the November result was “little short of exceptional”, said Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG.

“The uplift in revenue during Black Friday week was very strong at +11.7%, but actually growth was sustained across the whole month. There was a trend for retailers starting their campaigns earlier in the month this year and shoppers seemed to respond readily.

“However, while this is undoubtedly positive news, it would seem odd if retailers suddenly experienced consistently strong Christmas trading after such a poor year. Since November captured a high share of sales volumes, will shoppers have anything left to buy in December? Early anecdotal evidence suggests December trading was very subdued in the first week – how is it going to balance out overall?”

The IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index, which was started in April 2000, tracks the online sales performance of over 200 retailers.