Fashion online sales up 23%

Online fashion and footwear sales grew by 23% in July as people opted to shop from the comfort of their living room in the wet weather and to take advantage of special offers on the internet - according to Drapers.

Total online spend rose by 11.3% to £4.8 billion against June, which works out at an equivalent spend of £79 for every person in the UK according to the IMRG Capgemini Index, which measures online sales from 60 retailers including Arcadia Group, Asos, John Lewis, Next and Otto UK. Against July 2007, online sales were up 15.2%, and within that fashion, footwear and accessories sales recorded an uplift of 25.9% online.



The online sales rise is in stark contrast to the British Retail Consortium's figures for high street sales in July, which fell 0.9% on a like for like basis against July 2007. Total high street sales were up 1.7% on the previous year but fashion sales were in negative territory. The BRC pointed to the clothing sector as having suffered one of the biggest effects of the slowdown in consumer spending as shoppers move further away from discretionary and frivolous spending.