UK online sales recorded yet another decline in revenue in February, reports IMRG, which has recorded a decline every month since May 2021 (except November 2022, which was flat).
The total market saw a -4.1% YoY decline, building on a YoY decline of -27.6% from February 2022, the biggest monthly decline ever reported in IMRG’s Online Retail Index. The MoM decline between January and February (-7.8%) was in line with previous years, but as the fall between December and January (-29.4%) was sharper than normal, the index was building from a lower base in February.
Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG, says: “Following the pandemic boom in online sales growth, volumes have fallen away for a period of almost two years now. At some point in 2023, even though growth was not possible in February against the biggest decline ever from February 2022, we still think growth will return, even if it is very modest. The basket value shot up last year, and conversion collapsed accordingly, but those rates seem to have stabilised now so it’s just a question of when the apparently temporary pandemic volume has fallen away sufficiently to enable retailers to really take stock of how to build up again.”
