Online retail spend shot up by over 70% in the UK in December as a growing proportion of consumers eschewed the busy high street in favour of internet stores for their Christmas shopping.
The
Interactive Media in Retail Group claims that online sales totalled £1.324 billion last month, with electrical consumer goods and alcohol among the fastest growing sectors.
In aggregate, online sales came to more than £2.5 billion in November and December, equivalent to 7% of all UK retail sales. Unlike previous years, sales levels did not tail off in mid-December and in fact remained strong right through to Monday the 22nd. This reflects increasing consumer faith in the medium.
Jo Tucker, managing director of IMRG, commented: “Retailing changed this Christmas. There will be no going back for the millions of consumers who have now experienced for themselves that the internet provides a better way to shop for many products and services.”
The industry body claims that more people turned to the internet to fulfil their Christmas shopping needs because of the simple payment methods, ease of delivery and the fact that presents arrive gift-wrapped.
It is estimated that there are now 16 million internet shoppers in Britain and the online retail sector grew 31 times faster than high-street trading over Christmas. It is reckoned that online festive buying is typically at least four times quicker than a trip to the shops and experienced internet purchasers who know where to go can shop six times faster online than at traditional destinations (see Go Online For Xmas Shopping, Says IMRG).
IMRG draws attention to sales of electrical consumer goods, which were up 95% in December while online orders for beer, wine and spirits increased 82% year on year in November and by a further 3% in December.
eBay UK was the top UK shopping site in December, with a market share of more than 25%. Specialist online retailer Amazon also performed credibly and high street giants such as Argos and Tesco have successfully adapted to the changing shopping habits of the nation.
| Top UK Shopping Sites, December 2003 |
| |
|
|
| Rank* |
Name |
Market Share (%) |
| 1 |
eBay UK |
25.92 |
| 2 |
Amazon UK |
8.21 |
| 3 |
Argos |
2.31 |
| 4 |
eBay Shops UK |
2.23 |
| 5 |
Kelkoo United Kingdom |
2.14 |
| 6 |
Play.com |
1.60 |
| 7 |
Tesco.com |
1.55 |
| 8 |
Argos Entertainment |
1.01 |
| 9 |
Comet UK |
0.99 |
| 10 |
DealTime UK |
0.97 |
| * Ranks by Visits |
| Source: www.hitwise.co.uk |
Outlook The IMRG Index, which tracks the progress of UK e-retail industry sales, hit a new high of 1614 in December, up 12.6% on November 2003 and up 71.3% on December 2002. It is estimated that £21.8 billion has been spent online by UK shoppers since the index was instituted in April 2000.
Now five years old and worth £11 billion in 2003, UK internet shopping has outgrown the mail order industry in terms of both value and volume. IMRG estimates that it will double in value next year, in an overall retail sector that is unlikely to grow more than 4%. It is projected that within a decade, online shopping will account for 30% of all retail sales.
