DSGi Xmas online sales grow by a third

Online sales at electricals stores group DSGi rose by almost a third during the last three months of 2007, against a fall for in-store sales over the same period.

Sales at DSGi's ecommerce arm grew by 31 per cent in the 11 weeks to 29 December year-on-year, while in-store sales fell by one per cent.

DSGi group chairman Sir John Collins said poor sales of computing products contributed to the overall decline of in-store sales, which were buoyed by consumer gadgets, such as digital photo frames.

silicon.com Retail & Leisure

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A spokeswoman for the company could not confirm whether buying preferences were the same across in-store and online customers but she said in-store sales experienced a lift after Christmas Day, whereas online sales were consistently strong before the holiday commenced.

However, the growth in ecommerce sales will not be nearly enough to offset in-store decline, according to analysts, and DSGi's trading statement has sparked talk of the group reducing its store numbers.

Retail Knowledge Bank senior partner Robert Clark told silicon.com: "Online sales are small beer but they will clearly increase. Retailers will look carefully at their store portfolios because costs are rising faster than sales and there is only so much they can do with operational efficiencies. We will see more investment in online channels and traditional retailers will collectively account for most of that growth."