The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index has revealed that £104 billion was spent online in the UK in 2014 - it is the first time that annual spending in this area of retail exceeded the £100 billiom barrier.
IMRG and Capgemini forecasts a further 12 per cent growth in 2015, with total eCommerce sales estimated to be worth £116bn by the end of year.
The Christmas shopping period - the eight weeks between 2 November and 27 December, saw UK shoppers spend £21.6 billion on gifts and bargain - a 13 per cent growth on the same period last year.
Commenting on the results, Adgild Hop, head of retail consulting at Capgemini, said, “2014 has been an important milestone for the online retail sector, with the £100 billion mark being exceeded for the first time. When we consider that almost £1 in every £4 is now spent online, and that a large proportion of the other £3 is influenced by some form of digital interaction, it becomes very clear that retailers need to continue to embrace the opportunity that eretail poses."
Hop continued, “Additionally, we need to be cautious about the tendency of retailers to chase sales volumes at the expense of customer intimacy and profitability. Black Friday was unquestionably a success for the value-seeking consumer, but for retailers themselves, its success is not quite as clear. As the Index reveals, spending was brought forward a month earlier, at much lower margins for retailers, as a result of the discounts available to customers in November.”
Tina Spooner, chief information officer, at IMRG, added: “While the five per cent December online growth is lower than expected, the story of Christmas trading online this year is one of compression. The anticipated heavy discounting that was very widely communicated in advance of Black Friday served to concentrate the peak around that day in November.
Looking at Christmas trading as a whole, the 13 per cent growth for November and December combined was around the organisation would have expected, she explained.
"As an industry, we will need to work together to understand how this extreme activity spike can best be managed in the interests of both shoppers and retailers, she added.
@ 2015 ESM - European Supermarket Magazine.
