Online retail growth in the UK less than expected last year

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Is this the beginning of the end of the beginning? So used have we become to the enormous growth of online retail sales that new figures out for the UK in 2017 showing 12%, rather than the 14% forecast by CapGemini, can be taken as a possible indicator of how the industry may develop. While last year’s shortfall has been explained as possibly due to rising inflation, retailers and their logistics partners have been warned that tougher trading conditions can be expected this year. “The lowest online retail growth of 2017 was recorded in December – 9.1% – despite the Christmas period usually being one of the busiest for retailers. This could have been influenced by Black Friday becoming increasingly online-focused, dragging sales into the months leading up to December” reports Computer Weekly.