Online Sale Stats

While many of us have forgotten what it means to go to physical retail shops, we are now more than ever spending time doing online shopping. Buying online has made us realise how convenient, speedy and easy shopping online can be, and the pandemic has only pushed UK retail e-commerce forward. In addition, these are not the only reasons why online purchasing has increased. The other factors are:

• Increased usage of smartphones as now, more than half of all internet traffic shopping comes from a mobile device.

• Changes in generation shopping behaviours.

• More people using social media as globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media and the number is only projected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.

General Online Shopping Statistics

eMarketer forecasts that UK consumers will spend £132.43 billion online this year. This significant increase will see e-commerce account for more than 28% of total retail sales in the UK.

However, even though everyone is hoping to be back to normal life soon, the online purchasing habits that consumers have formed during the pandemic will likely stay.

The biggest growth in online retail sales has been noticed in department stores. The data from Office for National Statistics show that as of November 2020, online sales in stores in this category grew by 157.2 percent, compared to the same month in the previous year.

However, the online sale statistics were not good for everyone. Some retailers have mentioned that when their physical stores had to close, due to being non-essential shops, these enforcements affected turnover despite an increase in online sales during the period.

Before the pandemic hit the UK, the food retail category had not typically enjoyed such great shares in internet sales, as 2019 numbers attest. Most recent numbers show that, despite the fact that even though grocery stores remained open during the lockdown, as they are essential, consumers’ preference for online shopping for food items altered the trend in internet sales in the food category greatly!

While online shopping popularity is increasing, physical stores will continue to be the preferred choice for many people. Being in a physical store, customers can see the actual products, which can help to make a purchasing decision quicker. Also, the experience that clients can get when shopping at the physical store cannot be replaced with online shopping. When walking in a physical store, the displayed items help to teach customers about your brand and the products.

If you want to be ahead of your competitors, start planning how your physical store will look once businesses are back open and shoppers are back to physical purchasing. We believe that there are at least 4 good reasons why using Impulse POP is a good choice for making your brand stand out in-store!