Online sales for February up 13% to a record £4.1bn

Online sales grew 13%, up £3.6bn from the previous year, with lingerie and beauty products performing particularly well, according to latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.

Total clothing, footwear and accessories' online sales increased 17%, health and beauty sales were up 28% and online alcohol sales grew 20%.

Chris Webster, VP of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, said, "It's reassuring to see romance hasn't been lost in the recession and shoppers clearly haven't lost the love for online retail.

"The growth of less traditional sectors in February paints an optimistic picture of consumers picking themselves up following the doom and gloom of the last couple of years," he added.

Department store John Lewis reported a strong month for February with sales up 35% on last year. Its head of online selling, Jonathon Brown, said particular highlights were in fashion and home.

"Fashion performance, especially in women's wear, which increased by over 300%, and childrenswear, up by over 150%, was driven by newness," he said. "Home was boosted by outstanding sales in core John Lewis categories such as furniture and textiles. However, all buying offices were up over 40% on 2009. It has been a great month and we're increasingly confident of John Lewis's ability to make headway in a difficult market."

Published by: Suzanne Bearne

Published 22nd March, 2010

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