Total Media Solutions

Almost half of UK adult population shopped online in Q4 2009

2nd Feb 2010, www.nma.co.uk

Nearly half the adult population of the UK purchased goods online during the last quarter of 2009, according to data from the British Population Survey.

Some 48.7% of adults shopped online during the final three months of the year, up from 45.4% for the same period in 2008. Searching for information on purchasing goods and services also increased to 54.5% from 52.7%. Online grocery shopping was up to 13.6% from 12.4%, while
all other online shopping was up from 44.1% to 47.5%.

The increases follow a rise in the overall percentage of the population who have access to the internet. Of the adult population, 73.9% can now go online at home, up from 70.1% in the final quarter of 2008.

In terms of age groups, the largest increase was among 18-24-year-olds, with 52.3% of them now shopping online, compared with 44.6% in the last quarter of 2008. However, 55-64-year-olds were up 4.4%, with 47.6% of them now buying on the web. The third biggest increase was for the 45-54 age group, up 3.8% year on year to 58.6%.

The leaders in market share were the 35-44-year-olds, with 24.1%, followed by 45-54-year-olds with 19.4%.

For the first time more than one in five of the 65-and-over age group shopped online in the last three months of 2009.

The British Population Survey interviewed 169,220 people.

Online retail sales grew by 14% in 2009, with consumers spending £5.46bn in December alone

22nd January 2010, New Media Age

According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, UK online sales grew by 3.8% between November and December, with sales equivalent to every person in the UK spending £88.93 online in December.

Despite the online retail sector growing by 14% over the past year, September sales grew by just 7.6%, the lowest month in the history of the index. The report attributed the slower growth for the month to warmer than usual weather and postal strikes.

Jon Parry, principal retail consultant at Capgemini, said, "An interesting shift during this festive period is the strength of the monthly performance for multi-channel retailers [up 13%] versus their pure-play competitors [down 8%]. This shows both the high value consumers place on a multi-channel proposition, particularly when it comes to gift returns, and the trust advantage our high street brands have if they can get their online proposition right."

Jonathon Brown, head of online selling at John Lewis Direct, said, "It's worth noting that the launch of [John Lewis sale] Clearance online, from Christmas Eve, saw johnlewis.com take more than one order a minute in the first hour and continued to see strong sales throughout the festive period. We recorded our highest ever traffic day on Boxing Day."

The IMRG and Capgemini predict online retail will grow 13% in 2010.

Even more important for retailers to focus upon communicating at a local level

• People are most cash-conscious when grocery shopping. Three quarters of respondents cited value for money as the key factor in deciding where to shop
  
• Belt-tighteners shopping for clothes or fashion items are ten times more likely than non belt-tighteners to use shops which ‘care about the environment’
  
• People are least likely to cut back on spending in the opticians category (24 per cent)
  
• Local media was consistently seen as a good source for useful vouchers or coupons – top in DIY (54 per cent), opticians (47 per cent) and groceries (53 per cent).