Sharp Rise in April Sales Figures Spells Good News for UK Distributors
A late Easter, warm weather and the Royal Wedding, not necessarily in that order, brought about a major boost to online sales in the month of April according to the latest figures released by the retail consortium in the UK.
UK distributors are laughing all the way to the bank as sales registered impressive improvement in the month. This is because of many factors. Reports show that retail sales levels of non-food online sales rose sharply by 13.7 percent as compared to figures for April last year.
This compares exceptionally well with the small year to year growth of 7.5 percent in the same category. This includes sales figures through mail order, telephone sales and ecommerce for the month of March. UK distributors are aware of the special circumstances responsible for this sharp growth but they are hopeful that the momentum will not fritter out.
It must be noted that the figures for March 2011 were the weakest in recent years, but the numbers for April has encouraged retailers and suppliers. The sunny weather is definitely one of the real reasons for the good showing and so was the Easter trading.
Experts say that non-food online sales are affected by the same reasons and same pressure, which has hit sales badly in offline stores. Consumer confidence is still weak, which means that they are still not ready to spend on non-essentials. There is still a lot of emphasis on trade promotions and discounts by retailers to capture business. Customers are more likely to checkout prices on the web. Online UK distributors are waiting precisely for that, according to news reports.
Online retailers are ready with plans to convert that internet traffic into tangible sales. The fact that online prices are traditionally lesser than prices at a brick and mortar store is expected to boost online sales even further.