According to the latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, the impact of Black Friday continues to be felt moving into 2015, with sales up 7% year-on-year for the online retail market.
The Index notably illustrated the ripple effect of early discounting during Black Friday, with online sales of large ticket items within the electrical and home and garden sectors, which saw the biggest discounts in November, recording a 9% drop on January 2014.
Other sectors reported a more promising start to the year; clothing saw a 14% year-on-year increase and the travel sector saw 21% year-on-year growth.
IMRG chief information officer Tina Spooner said: “The knock-on effect of Black Friday is clearly continuing to be seen for online retailers with the Index recording single-digit annual growth for the second consecutive month. Though the January growth rate seems low, this is directly connected to the record low increase of 5% seen in December. Interestingly, the average basket value of £81 is the highest we’ve seen during January in four years – suggesting that there was less discounting this January as retailers shifted much of their stock over the Black Friday peak.”
Capgemini head of digital for consumer products Alex Smith-Bingham added: “January’s Index shows that we have entered 2015 with steady growth in e-retail sales, with a shift in spending to categories such as travel, which offered differentiated promotions in January compared to previous months.
“However, growth is being held back slightly by other categories, such as electrical and home & garden, which have seen sluggish sales since Black Friday. This suggests that the Black Friday ‘hangover’ has continued into 2015, dampening the traditional sales spike in key, high value categories during the January sales.”
