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UK leads Europe in Internet Shopping

UK shoppers lead Europe in ecommerce, Government statistics have confirmed.

An E-Society report, produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), found that 66% of UK adults aged between 16 and 74, quizzed in 2009, had bought online in the previous year. That was followed by Denmark (64%), and the Netherlands (63%). Bottom of the table were Bulgaria and Romania, with 5% and 2% respectively.

ONS figures also showed that the value of internet retail sales in Great Britain rose from an average weekly value of £169.3m in November 2006 to £446.1m in July 2010. By July 2010, internet sales made up 8% of the country’s total retail sales.

Between 2006 and 2009, the proportion of UK online shoppers grew from 45% to 66% of the adult population. The largest change over the period was in France, where 22% of adults shopped online in 2006 and 45% did so in 2009.

The figures also showed that in 2010, 19.2m UK households, or 73%, had internet access, up from 57% in 2006. In 2009, 69% of UK households had broadband access. The highest proportion of broadband-connected households was in Sweden (79%), followed by the Netherlands (77%) and Denmark (76%).

Of those UK households without access, 39% said they did not need it, while 21% cited a lack of skills in the household and 20% said they didn’t want it.

And when it came to what they used the internet for, in 2009 30% said they or someone else in the household had access to a social networking site and 20% said they had used a mobile phone to access the internet.

Some 97% of internet users aged 16-24 had used the internet in the previous three months – and were most likely to use it every day or almost every day (82%). Of those aged 65 and over, 32% used it every day or almost every day, and 59% used it every day or almost every day.

The report said: “Over three-quarters (78%) of those who had access the internet in the three months prior to interview had done so every day or almost every day, while a fifth (17%) had accessed it at least once a week but not every day.”

Double Sales with a New Mattress Shop Case Study

A good example of a UK online store that has exceeded their expectations in 2011 with the launch of a new e-commerce platform is BedCentre, who also have a shop in Swindon. They have been trading since 1986, and are keeping ahead of the curve providing what buyers want in an ever changing landscape in the mattress industry, as new products and brands develop more advanced mattresses through investing in technology. Choose from their large double mattress range from the main brands like Sleepeezee, Rest Assured, Sealy and Silentnight.