Online shopping returns to growth for first time in years

Online sales grew last month for the first time since for more than three and a half years in what many retailers will hope is the start of a bumper festive season and new year.

According to the IMRG Online Retail Index, which tracks the online sales performance of 220 retailers, overall sales went up by +3.2% year-on-year in September 2024.

The last time the total market experienced positive revenue growth was in April 2021 (+6.7% YoY), and between then and September 2024 there were only two months where growth was flat (November 2022: 0.2% and August 2023: 0.5%).

The resurgence in September was largely driven by the first two weeks of the month, which saw impressive YoY revenue growth of +11.6% and +10.8% respectively. Although the latter half of the month witnessed declines, the early boost means many retailers may start to feel more optimistic about the upcoming peak trading period, covering Black Friday and Christmas.

The growth in September 2024 can be attributed to several online product categories achieving big revenue spikes, most notably across health and beauty, gifting, clothing, and home and garden.

Standout performers included accessories and hobbies (+21.6%), make-up (+21.3%), fragrance (+18.4%), footwear (+13.5%), and haircare (+11.3%). Clothing saw its first positive monthly growth in exactly 24 months, rising by +4.2% YoY.

IMRG strategy and insight director Andy Mulcahy commented: “The start of September is the back-to-school week, which is a peak of sorts in retail – that one really saw a big uplift this year whereas the other retail event in September, 100 days to Christmas, brought negative growth, though overall the month balanced out in positive.

“So where does that leave us? After such a long and miserable period of decline, it feels like there are cautious reasons for optimism. We’ve seen a sustained recovery in traffic growth over the past two months, following declines across 2023 and the first half of this year, plus marginally better conversion.

“It feels like we are perhaps inching toward more reliable performance for ecommerce, which is great news for retailers approaching peak.”