With the convenience of being able to purchase products and services from your sofa at any time of the day or night, it’s hardly surprising that ecommerce has become many people’s preferred way of shopping. Quick, accessible, and user-friendly, ecommerce enables customers to browse multiple merchants to find the best prices, search for discount coupons, and read comprehensive customer views about a product all with a few mouse clicks. From a retailer’s perspective, ecommerce enables businesses to service a much wider geographical location than physical stores, acquire new customers through organic search engine traffic, and reduce outgoing costs, enabling them to offer customers more competitive prices.
Ecommerce statistics in the UK
- According to figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, UK online retail sales were up +13.9% year-on-year in January 2018, possibly assisted by the higher-than-average rainfall that kept many shoppers off the high street.
- Clothing sales were up +16.8% year-on-year in January 2018 – the strongest performance for the month of January since 2013. Sales of electrical items grew by +4.4%, far higher than the 12-month average of -1.9%.
- In the UK, 80% of buyers still conduct online ecommerce research, even when they are planning on buying an item in a physical store.
- Business-to-consumer ecommerce turnover in the UK increased to £13.7 billion in 2017, with a growth rate of 14.3 percent predicted for 2018.
Predictions for the future of ecommerce
With today’s tech-savvy younger generations becoming increasingly reliant on the web for their everyday activities, the future of ecommerce is bright. Demand for ecommerce website development is at an all-time high, and growth looks set to continue at an exponential rate.
- As the popularity of ecommerce develops, high street retail will continue to suffer. The closure of many high street retailers has been fuelled by the growth of Internet retail giants such as Amazon, which increased its sales from $16 billion to $80 billion in the space of just 4 years.
- Demand for one-day shipping will increase – nearly two-thirds of online buyers say that they would like to receive their purchases within a matter of hours after ordering.
- Mobile shopping will expand – in 2014, purchases made on mobile phones accounted for less than 12% of ecommerce sales, however according to Business Insider this will increase to 50% by 2020.
- The role of voice activation will increase – will Siri and Alexa soon be doing all our shopping for us? It is estimated that 50% of all online searches will be voice searches by 2020.
Online shopping at Forms Plus
Forms Plus is one of the largest UK suppliers of integrated label forms to multichannel retailers, including NotOntheHighStreet, eBay, and Amazon. With more than 35 years’ experience, we can take care of the complicated print requirements of your business. Contact us today to find out how our knowledgeable team can help you.