Sales grow 15 times faster online than in shops
Internet shopping may have come of age at last as British shoppers racked up Pounds 1bn of online sales last month – almost double the level of a year ago.
The findings, released yesterday by the Interactive Media in Retail Group, showed that November sales outstripped the previous month by 10.1 per cent, and by 95 per cent for the festive period last year. Sales over the internet are growing 15 times faster than those on the high street, which have grown by an annual 6.1 per cent, according to the IMRG.
Much of the online increase was driven by a shift toward products such as electronics, clothing and e-ticketing from budget airlines.
Sales in the early years of the internet revolution were slowed by poor service from many dotcoms. Since then, however, fulfilment and delivery have improved as traditional retailers build up extensive operations online.
Internet retailers such as Amazon are targeting the “convenience” market, selling a much larger range of products alongside their more traditional discount books and CDs.
Royal Mail, which claims to deliver six out of every 10 online orders in Britain, estimates that it will deliver more than 20m items bought online this Christmas.
Nigel Moore, marketing director for home shopping at Royal Mail, said: “Retailers have matured both in their expertise and their facilities. The level of customer satisfaction we’re recording does put the UK into the premier league in terms of e-commerce.”
Statistics compiled by Forrester estimate that over the Christmas period, consumers will spend about Pounds 2.6bn online, with Pounds 1.7bn of that in December.
The research group said that growth in e-tail spending outstripped that in the US, with western Europe forecasted to leapfrog it as world leader in e-commerce next year. Jaap Favier, a retail analyst at Forrester, said: “Europe keeps growing where the US is levelling off. It looks likely that e-business in Europe will overtake that in the US next year, when a year ago it only represented about 50 per cent.”
Mr Favier cited the impact of the economic downturn in the US and the fact that European e-shoppers now tended to buy a larger range of higher margin products online than did US consumers, as possible reasons.
November online sales in the US were estimated at Dollars 6.2bn (Pounds 4bn), up 22 per cent from last year, according to a report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen/NetRatings.
IMRG said that online shopping in Britain was growing three times faster than that in the US.
The group’s November index was based on sales of Pounds 218m reported by 77 participating online retailers, representing 22 per cent of the estimated market.
