UK online retail sales were up +16.4% year-on-year (YoY) in August, according to the latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. This makes August the best month for online retail growth so far in 2017. The Home sector had a particularly strong August, with 20.5% year-on-year growth and an average basket value (ABV) of £130. Clothing also showed good growth at 17.9%, the best performance for this sector in 2017, and with an ABV up £9 on August 2016. These sectors both contributed to the highest overall ABV for the month of August in five years. All this comes despite August inflation of 2.9%, and the reported 2.4% rise in the price of clothing, which has evidently not served to deter fashion shoppers yet. On the other hand, the August results painted a very different picture for Electricals, which suffered its fifth consecutive month of negative growth – the longest sustained period of negative growth for this sector since we started tracking it in 2003.

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