Online Retail Spending Stutters after England World Cup Exit

Online Retail Spending Stutters after England World Cup Exit

UK online retail sales slipped to their lowest year-on-year (YoY) growth in 2018 so far this July, as consumer spending slumped in the weeks following England’s FIFA World Cup exit, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. Online sales increased by just +10.0% (YoY) in July, well below the three, six and twelve-month rolling averages of +14.7%, +15.0% and +12.7% respectively.

Online retail enjoyed record growth in the first half of 2018, and this looked set to continue after the first week of July, with sales up by +14.4%. After England’s semi-final exit on 11 July, however, this took a dramatic turn, and even Amazon Prime Day could not prevent growth shrinking to +3.7%, +8.6% and +5.1% in the remaining weeks of the month.