According to the latest report from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, online sales of non-food products in the UK grew by 8.3% in February compared to a year earlier. The proportion of non-food sales purchased online was 17.5%, which is an increase of 0.9% over February 2014.
The BRC said that there were some stock shortages noticeable within electrical and electronics stores, which it attributed to the chaos that followed Black Friday. Health gadgets, including smartbands were some of the strong sellers, while sales of tablets declined.
David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG commented that the increase in online sales of non-food items was driven by the increase in customers using their smartphones and tablets to make purchases and he believes it is vital that retailers recognise this and invest in systems which make it easier for consumers to shop using these devices.
